Consumers Energy Crews Make Progress Overnight in Kalamazoo, St. Joseph and Branch Counties

Kalamazoo County, Mich. Wednesday, May 08, 2024

Consumers Energy crews made progress in Kalamazoo, Branch and St. Joseph counties following a major storm system moving through the southwest portion of the state, bringing with it at least two confirmed tornadoes and significant debris yesterday evening. Crews worked overnight assessing damage and removing debris such as tree limbs and are on target to restore power to the majority of customers in those three counties by end of day today.

“The tornadoes did extensive damage to our system, with thousands of trees uprooted and more than 60 downed wires in these three counties alone,” said Norm Kapala, one of Consumers Energy’s Officers in Charge for restoration. “Over 115 crews worked to restore power to over 5,000 families and businesses in southwest Michigan last night.”

Customers can continue to check the status of outages at www.ConsumersEnergy.com/OutageCenter. They can also sign up to get outage alerts and restoration times sent to a phone, email or text message, Text ‘REG' to 232273 or visit www.ConsumersEnergy.com/alerts.

Consumers Energy urges the public to keep important safety tips in mind:

Be alert to crews working on roads and debris. Drivers should slow down or stop and wait for oncoming traffic to clear so they can go safely past workers on roadsides.
Stay at least 25 feet away from downed power lines, and to report unguarded downed lines by calling 9-1-1 and Consumers Energy at 800-477-5050. Consumers Energy reminds people that falsely calling in downed lines actually slows down the restoration process for everyone.
Never use a generator in an attached garage, basement, enclosed patio or near any air intakes. Doing so could cause a generator to produce hazardous levels of carbon monoxide, an odorless, colorless and deadly gas. Read more guidance on safe generator use here.
Consumers Energy will trim or remove trees interfering with electric restoration activities. Once safe to do so, clean-up of debris from tree trimming or removal during a storm emergency is the responsibility of individual property owners.
In some cases, the mast that holds the electric service wires to a home or business may have been damaged or torn away. Crews will reconnect the wires to a home, but only a licensed electrician can repair or replace a mast or a cable.

Consumers Energy is Michigan’s largest energy provider, providing natural gas and/or electricity to 6.8 million of the state’s 10 million residents in all 68 Lower Peninsula counties.

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Media Contact: Tracy Wimmer, 517-539-4465 or tracy.wimmer@cmsenergy.com

This is our final news release for this event.