Fewer than 5,400 electric utility customers remained without power on Wednesday, about five days after storms toppled trees and downed power lines across southeast Michigan.
On Wednesday morning, DTE Energy reported that the service of about 5,337 customers had been interrupted by the storm. That compares with about 30,000 the day before.
A large cluster of those customers is on Detroit’s west side, according to its online outage map. Another is an area south of the city and north of Monroe.
About 400,000 DTE Energy customers lost power on Friday when severe storms swept across the region. The company said crews had restored electricity to 95% of them by Tuesday.
DTE Energy said Tuesday it expected to have power restored to all customers affected by the end of the day.
Company officials said the suddenness and widespread nature of the storm, as well as the fact that it struck during a holiday weekend, affected the response.
Because the storm knocked out power to communities across the Midwest, DTE Energy had to bring in additional workers from as far as Texas, which added to restoration times, according to the company.
Meanwhile, Consumers Energy said Wednesday that 48 of its customers had no power.
That compares with about 4,800 the day before.
cramirez@detroitnews.com
@CharlesERamirez
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Customers without power after Michigan storms drop below 5,400
Reporting by Charles E. Ramirez, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Charles E. Ramirez, The Detroit News | USA TODAY Network
