Nik Rajkovic / news@whmi.com

Thousands of DTE Energy customers in the WHMI listening area are still without power following this week's storms. Some saw the lights come back on Thursday, only to have more severe weather knock out their electricity again.

"We're seeing widespread damage in the Howell/Brighton area," spokesman Jerry Tullio said during a press briefing Friday morning.

"Anytime anyone loses power it is difficult, especially coming into a holiday weekend. My message is we appreciate how difficult is to be without power. We're sorry that people are without power. We have an army of people here to get power back as quickly as we can, so that everyone can enjoy their holiday weekend."

Trullio said DTE is pulling line workers from across the Midwest to help get the lights back on across southeast Michigan. However, the utility giant only expects about 65 percent of customers will get their electricity back by the end of the Friday, with 90 percent restoration by the end of Saturday.

He said Thursday's tornado warnings, combined with more storms Friday morning has hampered those efforts, adding there are a lot of downed trees and power lines across the region.

"We have to work as safely as we can. Everyone that works on DTE property every day has the equipment to work in all weather conditions. We're going to continue to watch (the weather) and react accordingly."

DTE is urging anyone with downed trees and other debris to just leave it to the pros, adding any downed power line should be considered live, and to stay at least 25 feet away.

Anyone using a generator for electricity is urged to keep it outside, away from the house as far as possible, due to possible carbon monoxide and fire risks.

DTE's outage map is linked below.