Nearly half a million customers in Michigan remained without power, three days after one of the worst ice storms in decades knocked out utility poles and wires in the southeast of the state.
(Bloomberg) — Nearly half a million customers in Michigan remained without power, three days after one of the worst ice storms in decades knocked out utility poles and wires in the southeast of the state.
Crews have been working since Wednesday’s storm to restore power, but by Saturday morning 471,034 customers were still waiting for the lights to come back on, according to PowerOutage.us. At the height of the outages, some 800,000 homes and businesses were without power.
Temperatures in the state remain near or below freezing, with a chance for more ice and freezing rain on Monday, the National Weather Service said.Â
DTE Energy, which serves the Detroit metro area, reported extensive damage to its electrical system after the storm and said about 2,000 lines were downed. Ice accumulation can add more than 1,000 pounds (450 kilograms), or the equivalent of a baby grand piano, to a span of wire.Â
The widespread outages are another example of how the aging US power grid remains vulnerable to extreme weather events fueled by climate change. Millions of Americans lost power in late December during a deadly winter storm that cut power and triggered rotating blackouts in several southeastern states.Â
Read More: Extreme Ice Storm Severely Hampers Michigan Power System
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