By Robert Tomlinson
News Director
ST. JOSEPH COUNTY — Over 6,000 people in St. Joseph County are without power as of 9 p.m. Monday because of a windstorm that rolled through Monday afternoon.
According to Indiana-Michigan Power, heavy rains and strong winds reaching around 67 miles per hour contributed to the outages, which began in the late afternoon and subsided by 8 p.m.
Consumer’s Energy reported 4,385 customers were without power in St. Joseph County as of 9 p.m., while Indiana-Michigan Power said 1,846 of their customers in the county were without power. Crews from both companies are out restoring power, with restoration estimates ranging from midnight Tuesday to the afternoon hours on Tuesday.
“This storm has been hard-hitting right from the start, but we prepared and are starting our work to get the lights back on across Michigan,” said Norm Kapala, one of Consumers Energy’s officers in charge for restoration, in a release. “We appreciate the patience of our customers, especially as high gusts continue into the morning, and we will make sure to work through the night to help communities to recover.”
A number of trees and power lines were reported down because of the storm, which also contributed to the outages. A power line at the corner of M-86 and Lutz Road was also observed to be down and on fire because of the storm as well. In Centreville, some trees were reported down in yards, while a power pole fell down completely on South Clark Street between West Main Street and West Burr Oak Street.
Residents are asked to stay alert and be safe, and to stay at least 25 feet away from downed power lines; unguarded downed power lines can be reported by calling police. They also are reminded that if a stop light isn’t working, to treat it as a four-way stop.
Robert Tomlinson can be reached at 279-7488 or robert@wilcoxnewspapers.com.
