Indiana Michigan Power is working to restore power to those customers left without it following storms on Sunday night. As of late morning Monday, I&M had more than 9,000 Michigan customers still in the dark. I&M has released the following:
A contingent of Indiana Michigan Power (I&M) crews and contractors are working as quickly and as safely as possible to restore customers after two rounds of severe storms raced through I&M’s service area, pummeling cities and towns with heavy rain, lightning and strong wind gusts. Crews have restored more than 8,000 customers, and approximately 19,500 remain without power — most of the affected customers are in the South Bend, Elkhart and Southwest Michigan area.
At the peak of the storms early Monday morning, more than 28,000 customers were without service. High winds caused widespread damage including several downed trees and power lines. A 65 mile-per-hour wind gust was recorded near Lawton, Mich. and a 48 mile-per-hour wind gust was recorded in South Bend, Ind.
Restoration crews are dealing with windy conditions near Lake Michigan, including 45 mile-per-hour windgusts, which could cause additional outages.
I&M crews and contractors are responding to safety hazards such as downed power lines, working to restore main substation circuits and assessing damages. I&M crews from Fort Wayne and Muncie are en route to South Bend, Elkhart and Southwest Michigan to help restore power, and more than 100 additional mutual assistance personnel and contractors are answering the call for help.
I&M understands a power outage is inconvenient for our customers and communities and we appreciate their patience as crews work safely to restore power. We will continue to provide updates with outage information and restoration estimates as work continues.
I&M expects to have initial estimated restoration times established early this afternoon.
SAFETY INFO
Please pay attention to several safety precautions:
Downed power lines. Stay away from any downed wires and report them to I&M. You can contact
I&M by calling 1-800-311-4634, report on our app or website, or call 911.
Be careful around debris and fences. Fallen limbs and other debris can hide downed power lines,
and a downed line may be contacting a fence out of line of sight. Look around carefully.
Trees could fall or drop limbs at any moment, please look up.
Safety is the top priority for I&M employees and our customers with an increased focused on hydration due to the heat.
Traffic lights may not be functioning. Please use caution and be mindful of first responders and utility workers on the roadways.
I&M employees and contractors will be working alongside the road and in neighborhoods. We urge the public not to approach our crews.
OUTAGE NUMBERS (as of 10:30 a.m.):
INDIANA: Approximately 9,900OUTAGE UPDATE
6-21-2021 | 10:30 a.m.
South Bend Area: 3,450
Elkhart Area: 5,950
Fort Wayne Area: 450
MICHIGAN: Approximately 9,500
Benton Harbor Area: 2,400
Buchanan Area: 3,800
Three Rivers Area: 3,300
STAY INFORMED
I&M encourages customers to use the Indiana Michigan Power app to monitor the status of any outage affecting your home or business. IndianaMichiganPower.com/App. You can sign up for text and email alerts on the app or at IndianaMichiganPower.com/Alerts.
See the location and status of outages using our outage map at IndianaMichiganPower.com/OutageMap. For the latest updates please follow Indiana Michigan Power on Facebook and find us on Twitter @IN_MI_Power.
