Jessica Mathews / news@whmi.com

Consumers Energy is urging safety as crews work around the clock to restore service following Monday’s damaging storms.

The storms brought wind gusts of nearly 70 mph and knocked down trees, limbs and power lines. There were 2,000 downed wires throughout Consumers Energy’s service territory and crews continue to make progress on restoration efforts. More than 350 crews were working in the field Tuesday - with a goal of restoring more than half of the roughly 175,000 impacted customers.

The utility is urging everyone to be on the lookout for downed wires and continue to report any issues. Both people and pets should stay at least 25 feet away from the lines.

Consumers Energy asks that the public be alert to crews working along roads. They say drivers should slow down or stop and wait for oncoming traffic to clear so they safely can go past workers on roadsides.

With the number of homes and businesses still without power, the utility reminds to never use a generator in an attached garage, basement, enclosed patio or near any air intakes. It says doing so could cause a generator to produce hazardous levels of carbon monoxide - an odorless, colorless and deadly gas.

Consumers Energy says it will trim or remove trees interfering with electric restoration activities. It notes that 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, officials say 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.

Customers can report an outage and check the status of outage by visiting 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.