Over 1K Still Without Power in Calhoun And Branch Counties

Power outages persist around Calhoun and Branch counties this morning. They are all lingering leftovers from the big storm on Wednesday last week. Consumers Energy this morning reports just under 1,400 customers are still without service, most are in Calhoun and Branch counties. The utility has 71 crews in the field with 104 separate outage areas. That points out one of the difficulties with the storm recovery efforts. On Thursday when most of the damage had been pinpointed, the utility was facing over 3,800 separate outage areas. On Friday, Consumers was indicating that most of its customers should be back online by the end of the day with just a small number of outages held over until Saturday for reconnection.  But by Saturday morning, well over 35,000 customers still had no service.

Today, residents and businesses in several areas of Calhoun County are waiting for power, mostly to the west of the City of Battle  Creek. In Branch County, the worst-hit areas around Bronson and Coldwater have not had service restored yet. Indiana Michigan power reports just one remaining outage in its service area in Michigan - that one just outside Three Rivers.  DTE has several dozen outage areas this morning. Those are mostly around metro Detroit with a few hundred customers still without service from the Wednesday storm.