WEST MICHIGAN -- Great Lakes Energy says it has restored electrical service to most of the customers impacted by a power outage over the weekend.
The utility company told WOOD Radio its crews worked into the evening Sunday to restore electricity to customers in 18 counties. High winds were responsible for the service interruptions. Great Lakes spokesman Brett Streby mention that, at one point, there were about 20,000 outages Saturday.
"Very high, sustained gusting winds were causing a lot of damage," he said. "It started down in the south around Lake, Mason and Newaygo counties. And then, later in the day, it had reached up into our northern service territory."
The winds were clocked as high as 57 miles per hour in some locations. Overall, about 46,000 homes and businesses were impacted, as Consumers Energy reported about 26,000 outages over the weekend. The power had been restored by the end of the weekend for the Consumers' customers. Great Lakes Energy still had some outages early Monday morning, but most of the power was back on by 9 a.m.
"Our contract crews and GLE line crews from all over our service territory - along with mutual aid from other cooperatives - gathered and responded as quickly and efficiently as possible," Streby said.
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