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Utility crews mobilizing after winter storm
For many residents, they have been left with no power and a lot of snow. It comes after major snowfall took down power lines, leaving thousands in northern Michigan in the dark.
(FOX 2) - People living in northern Michigan are still working to recover after a blizzard brought massive snowfall to the area. Some areas got hit with more than 30 inches of snow, leading to downed power lines and numerous power outages.
Local perspective:
For many residents, they have been left with no power and a lot of snow. It comes after major snowfall took down power lines, leaving thousands in northern Michigan in the dark.
The damage is severe and widespread. On Wednesday, Consumers Energy deployed nearly all of its company and contractor resources to northern Michigan.
"Now that it’s safe, we’re able to get there now that the winds have died down to get our bucket trucks up and start restoring power as quickly and safely as we can," said Matt Johnson from Consumers Energy.
DTE is also doing its part. The utility company tells FOX 2 it released 400 contractor crews from their regular DTE duties to support utilities on the ground.
"The process is called mutual assistance. When an electric utility has struggled, it can reach out to utility partners in state or across the country," said Bradley Craig from DTE.
By the numbers:
The combined efforts are making an impact.
"We had about 190+ thousand customers statewide that lost power since Sunday until Monday, and now there’s about 75,000 customers that are remaining without power, primarily in nine northern Michigan counties," said Johnson. "So we’ve made huge progress in a very short time, especially since the weather has not made it easy to get our crews out there."