1/20/13 - High winds that began Saturday night and continued into the morning hours today (Sunday) have resulted in thousands of people being without power, and the majority of those without heat. DTE reports that as of late Sunday morning, about 10,000 homes and businesses were without power, all resulting from high winds gusting up to 40 miles per hour knocking down power lines and causing trees and limbs to topple onto lines. In adjacent Oakland County, about 27,000 customers were without power and in Washtenaw County about 3,000 customers were minus electricity. Overall, about 92,000 DTE customers were without power late Sunday morning in DTEâs 17-county region, which serves 2.1 million customers in southeastern Michigan. Saying they were still assessing the situation, a DTE spokesman was unable to give an estimate as to when power would be restored. At Consumers Energy, at last count, about 40,000 customers were without power, including 1,300 in Livingston County; 2,300 in Genesee County 2,200 in Ingham County and 2,000 in Shiawassee County. Outages in Livingston are scattered all over, but are concentrated in the Howell area â on the cityâs south side and south of Howell in Marion, Genoa and Iosco townships. A large number of outages were also reported south of Brighton in Green Oak and Hamburg townships and north of town in Brighton Township. Highlander Way in the city of Howell was closed from Grand River to M-59 due to a downed power line; several traffic lights in and around Howell were also out and Livingston County Central Dispatch was asking that motorists approaching an intersection where the traffic signal is out should regard it as a 4-way stop. WHMI has had a couple of calls from elderly people and a mother who just gave birth and have had to deal with a home without heat. Those who have an elderly or disabled neighbor who lives alone are asked to check up on the individual to make sure theyâre OK. (TT)
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