Consumers Energy Says Restoration Progress Continues from Weekend Ice Storm

Update: As of 4:30 a.m. Friday morning, nearly 20,000 in Genesee County were still without power according to Consumers Energy. The majority of customers still without power from last weekend's storm are expected to be restored by the end of the day Saturday. Consumers says they are also monitoring expected warmer temps that could cause additional damage to the electric system. Temperatures in the upper 30s to lower 40s later today and Saturday will melt ice now coating tree branches, causing them to snap into power lines, and perhaps additional outages.

Update: Power has been restored for 25,000 Consumers Energy customers since late Wednesday afternoon. Additional crews are still on the way to assist in Michigan to get the job done. In Genesee County, more than 32,000 customers are still without power. An additional 180 utility workers are headed to the Flint area, the hardest hit by the ice storm. Saturday is still the estimated restoration time for those without power in Genesee County.

Update: Nearly 45,000 in Genesee County are still without power on Christmas and 129,000 are still without it across the state. In their 5 a.m. update, Consumers Energy says they "will continue staffing around the clock until restoration in complete." Mary Palkovich, Vice President of Energy Delivery, says they "know this has been difficult on out customers. We thank them for their patience and understanding and we thank the men and women who are spending Christmas away from their families to get the lights back on across lower Michigan."

Genesee and Shiawaseee Counties were among the hardest hit during what Consumers in calling the "largest Christmas-week storm in its 126-year history and its largest ice storm in more then 10 years." Expected restoration times for Genesee County are still Saturday. The most current restoration can be found at www.consumersenergy.com/outagemap.

Update: As of 4:30 p.m. Monday, December 23rd, Consumers Energy says they have more than 2,500 currently working to get power restored and the number without power has dropped to 196,000. The number working to restore power will increase on Tuesday Consumers is joined by more utility workers from other 11 other states and Washington D.C. Consumers also says crews will be working through the night "in hopes they can turn the lights on for many before Christmas."

Update: As of noon Monday, December 23rd, Consumers Energy says more than 1,000 utility workers from as far away as Kansas are headed to Michigan to assist with restoration after the what they are calling the "worst ice storm in more than 10 years."

All of the electrical workers are expected to be working on the Consumers Energy system by Wednesday according Mary Palkovich, the utility's vice president of energy.

Genesee County remains one of the hardest hit areas with over 65,000 affected electric interruptions. Barry, Kent and Shiawasee County have also been hit hard. Currently, the estimated restoration times for Genesee County is Saturday. See the links below for where to stay most up-to-date on restoration times.

Consumers Energy says improving weather conditions have allowed for steady restoration progress to the weekend ice storm which cut power to more than 260,000 customers.

Mary Palkovich, the utility's vice president of energy delivery, says "the calmer weather has allowed us to progress in making more areas safe and restoring power. We expect to have additional utility workers on the system during Monday to supplement our efforts. We're working around the clock to get the lights back on."

As of 4 a.m. Monday morning, the hardest hit areas were Genesee County with just under 62,000 customers without electricity, Calhoun County with around 10,500 outages, Kent County with around 18,500 without power and Shiawassee with just under 20,000 outages. Consumers is estimating Saturday restoration for portions of Clinton, Eaton, Genesee, Ingham, Livingston, Oakland and Ottawa Counties.

Latest restoration information can be obtained at Consumer Energy's online outage map at www.consumersenergy.com/outagemap. In addition, Consumers Energy is sharing estimated restoration times on their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/consumersenergymichigan.