DTE crews restoring power in Plymouth

PLYMOUTH, Mich. (WJBK) - Crews are still working Thursday to restore power to some of the thousands in Plymouth who lost power last night when at DTE substation went up in flames.

The flames are out and  the lights are starting to come back on, but Mother Nature wasn't doing the crews any favors.

"Some of our restoration estimates they were kind of dependent on how that weather's going to play out," said Ryan Stowe, DTE executive director of distribution operations.

At its peak, DTE says the power was knocked out for 4,300 customers.

When the power is knocked out to an entire city, they have to use alternative ways to restore it. That includes a large generator, which can power roughly 750 homes.

DTE has two in place and an additional smaller one, and by midday power was back to 40 percent of those who lost it.

Workers de-energized the substation to allow them to work through the rains and see what was salvageable.

"Depending on how that work goes will drive how long we're going to rely on those portable generators," Stowe said.

In the meantime, they worked to make life a little easier for those inconvenienced by being left in the dark.

"We've got water, we've got ice, and we're trying to just help the people in the neighborhood. If there's something we can along those things, we do it. There's a neighbor over here who is bed ridden. We were able to go over there and hook up a generator for a little while and help get them out of their beds so they can take care of their medical needs," Stowe said.

The priority right now is making sure everyone has the power back and then they will focus on what caused the fire and outage in the first place.