CHEBOYGAN — Significant progress has been achieved toward power restoration in Cheboygan County, according to the sheriff’s department.
“Our dedicated power and utility partners have been working tirelessly to restore electricity to both businesses and residences throughout the county,” the Cheboygan County Sheriff’s Department said in a statement Friday.
The Cheboygan County Road Commission and the Michigan Department of Transportation have made strides in clearing primary roads and major trunk lines.
“However, we would like to remind residents that (the) extensive network of secondary roads will require additional time to restore due to the large number of downed power lines and fallen trees,” the department added.
More: ‘The damage is extreme’: Presque Isle utility CEO says some won’t have power this weekend
Cheboygan County is starting to collect data for damage assessment. Please report home and property damage by using this link.
Straits Regional Ride services are partially operational and are able to help transport residents to and from stores for supplies.
Warming shelters that are open include the following:
More: Live: Clean-up underway, recovery efforts ongoing in Northern Michigan communities
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The sheriff’s department said distribution locations for food and water is as follows:
Cheboygan County residents are reminded there are designated locations available from 9 a.m. until 6 p.m. for the safe disposal of residential storm debris, including trees and brush. Please note that this service is strictly for storm-related debris and does not include household items or refuse.
Locations include the following:
Utility roundup
Consumers Energy continues its around-the-clock push to repair and rebuild the electric grid in Northern Michigan counties.
As of 9 a.m. Friday, about 10,800 customers remained without power in the region. About 95% of Northern Michigan customers should see power restored by the end of Friday with the remaining customers to follow Saturday, the company said.
Helped by better weather, Consumers has returned power to over 99% of the over 380,000 customers affected statewide by severe ice and thunderstorms throughout the past week.
Great Lakes Energy (GLE) said Friday approximately 29,000 customers are without power across the cooperative’s 26-county service territory.
Crews remain challenged by widespread damage with hundreds of downed poles, according to GLE.
“Restoration remains a lengthy process, as replacing each pole takes several hours, alongside repairing wires and clearing fallen trees. Restoration is progressing, but it may be multiple days before some areas receive power,” the company said.
Presque Isle Electric & Gas Co-op said it has restored electricity to over 14,000 of its of its 35,000 customers by Friday. Besides Cheboygan, Presque Isle Electric & Gas (PIE&G) also has customers in Alpena, Montmorency, Presque Isle and other Northern Michigan counties.
“When the storm first hit, our system was at 100% outage, leaving our members without power. Today, we are proud to say that we have restored service to 40% of our system, and we continue to make strides each hour. The arrival of additional linemen and continued favorable weather conditions are allowing us to accelerate restoration efforts,” Allan Berg, president and CEO of PIE&G, said in a statement.
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Meanwhile, more than 800 Michigan National Guard soldiers and airmen have been activated by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to support communities affected by the ice storm. Most of the units are staged at Camp Grayling Joint Maneuver Training Center and started deploying to communities on Thursday.
“We are working alongside our local and state agency partners to help clear roadways overcome by debris and supporting delivery of pallets of food to areas in need,” said U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Paul D. Rogers, adjutant general and director of the Michigan Department of Military and Veterans Affairs.
(This story has been updated to add new information.)
— Contact Paul Welitzkin at pwelitzkin@gaylordheraldtimes.com.
This article originally appeared on Cheboygan Daily Tribune: Cheboygan County Sheriff: Power restoration efforts show progress in county
Reporting by Paul Welitzkin, Cheboygan Daily Tribune / Cheboygan Daily Tribune
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