40K DTE customers still without power
James David Dickson
About 40,000 DTE Energy customers in the region remained without power Tuesday night as the utility pushed to restore electricity after a weekend storm.
DTE Energy said power has been restored to about 90 percent of roughly of 390,000 customers who lost power during snow and ice storms that pummeled the region over the weekend. The remaining outage areas are the most difficult to restore, DTE said.
Nearly 60 schools were closed Tuesday, including 45 in Wayne County.
“At this point in the process, we are tackling the smaller, more complex jobs that will restore power to the pockets of customers still experiencing outages,” DTE said in a news release issued at 9:30 Tuesday. “Crews will continue working around the clock until all impacted customers are restored.”
About 1,600 workers from DTE and five states were working to restore power to those who remained without power, the company said.
Crews have installed up 250 miles of new power lines over the past two days, enough wire to reach from Detroit to Traverse City.
The company asked that customers check on the safety of neighbors without power, especially seniors, and those with disabilities or medical needs. Those who need help can call United Way’s 2-1-1 crisis hotline to find local services.
Tuesday's morning commute started with snowy and icy roads, but National Weather Service meteorologist Andrew Arnold said the region was done with inclement weather, at least for now.
Wednesday and Thursday will have highs in the mid- to upper-40s, and lows around the freezing point. Precipitation is likely both days, including a chance of snow.
The precipitation is likely to start Wednesday afternoon with rain transitioning into snow as temperatures fall.
Friday is expected to be the start of a drying trend that will last through the weekend. Friday's high is expected to be in the lower to upper 40s.
“Come this weekend, we’ll see a gradual warmup and maybe by (next) Tuesday, we’ll hit the 60s,” Arnold said. “The warm up is coming, we just have to deal with one more system here.”