Saturday, Sept. 1, 2018
6:50 p.m.
An estimated 3,800 Great Lakes Energy members in eleven counties in the cooperative’s service areas south of Cadillac remain without power today. Members in the service areas north of Cadillac, who were not as hard hit by the storms earlier this week, have all been restored. Restoration in the northern service areas has allowed all available crews to travel to help in the southern areas. All GLE crews are being assisted by contract line and tree crews as well as mutual aid crews from other utilities.
Since Tuesday, when the storms began, more than 30,000 members have been restored. It is estimated that more than 250 broken poles have to be replaced due to the widespread damage. As crews enter rural areas, where the co-op serves, they are finding large trees blocking roads. This is hindering the speed at which they can reach and repair the damaged poles and wires.
Crews anticipate restoring most of the outages in Newaygo County today but a few scattered, hard to reach areas may not have power until tomorrow. Some areas in Lake and Osceola may not have power until Tuesday due to impassable roads and the mass amount of tree removal and pole replacement necessary. Work continues in Oceana County, with most services expected to be restored by tomorrow night. In Mason County, members without power may not be fully restored until Monday. Other smaller, scattered outages persist in Clare, Manistee, Mecosta, Montcalm, Muskegon and Wexford counties and crews anticipate that most of those will be restored by Sunday pending further complications. All of these estimations can change depending on what the crews find when they reach a location.
Members who don’t have their power restored by 10 p.m. will likely not have their electricity restored today and are advised to call 211 for local shelters or make alternate arrangements if needed.
Great Lakes Energy members are reminded to stay away from downed power lines and also stay clear of trees and limbs hanging on the lines. Current outage information by counties and zip codes is updated on the Great Lakes Energy website, www.gtlakes.com, by visiting Storm Central.
Great Lakes Energy members can report their power outage by calling 888-485-2537, logging into their online GLE account or using the Great Lakes Energy mobile app.