Jessica Mathews / news@whmi.com


Consumers Energy crews continue to tackle restoration work after three waves of severe weather swept through Michigan over the weekend - including an ice storm in the northern portion of the state and severe thunderstorms in the south, with wind gusts up to 90 mph in some locations.

Consumers Energy has crews working around the clock to restore power following a what’s being described as a historic ice storm in the northern part of the state and severe storms to the south.

In an afternoon update, the utility said they have a lot of resources working on the system, including over 700 crews and damage assessment teams spread between the two regions working 24 hours a day until every customer is restored.

Consumers Energy says it aims to bring even more crews on to aid in restoration efforts. Since the storms began, over 110,000 customers have already been restored.

It was noted there is a significant amount of icing and some very challenging conditions in the Gaylord and Tawas region.

The utility said it’s bracing for another round of storms Wednesday expected to bring more ice and freezing rain, and then a second wave of thunderstorms and wind gusts over 60mph, and possibly isolated tornados primarily long and south of I-96, as far north as M-32.

More than 300,000 power outages were reported in Michigan due to the freezing ice and extreme winds.

Governor Gretchen Whitmer declared a state of emergency in ten counties after activating the State Emergency Operations Center to respond to the damaging ice storms in northern Michigan.

Three children died in Michigan after a tree struck their van Sunday as powerful storms swept the region. The Kalamazoo County Sheriff’s Office said the family “could not have avoided” an enormous tree. In Indiana, an 84-year-old man died when his Amish buggy flipped.

The Mackinac Bridge Authority said consensus of their maintenance staff is that “it’s the worst we’ve ever seen on the bridge”. The bridge was closed due to falling ice and some photos were posted on the Mackinac Bridge’s X account. The Mackinac Bridge has closed due to falling ice 28 times since 1995 - for an average duration of roughly five hours per closure.

Consumers Energy said the majority of northern Michigan's restoration is on track to be complete Tuesday, and the hardest hit areas Wednesday. Customers should continue to check the outage map for updates. That link is provided.

Meanwhile, DTE Energy reported that as of 5pm, around 9,000 outages remain across its entire service territory. It estimated 95% of customers would be restored by the end of the day Monday. A link to that outage map is also provided.

Main photo: Tree down in City of Howell
Middle: Mackinac Bridge Authority
Bottom: Associated Press - Kalamazoo Storm Damage