DETROIT – Officials with DTE Energy held a news briefing early Thursday morning to provide an update on power restoration efforts as hundreds of thousands are in the dark following a winter storm.
As of 8:10 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 23, more than 461,000 DTE customers in Southeast Michigan were without power. The number grew late Wednesday and overnight Thursday due to strong winds and accumulating ice amid a messy winter storm.
Officials said Thursday morning that the ice accumulation in Metro Detroit is the thickest they’ve seen it in decades. That ice coats power lines, tree limbs and other equipment, adding a “tremendous weight” to all of it.
In addition to the ice buildup, strong winds moved through the area Wednesday.
“That combination causes an extreme amount of damage,” said Matt Paul, executive vice president of distribution operations at DTE. “We’ve seen very large tree limbs come down, very large trees topple over ... a significant number of our wires and equipment have come down, several utility poles snapped with the weight.”
That weight is significant: Paul said that a half an inch of radial ice on one span of wire can add over 1,000 pounds to that wire -- about the weight of a baby grand piano.
More than 2,000 wires were also reportedly downed during the storm.
DTE Energy officials say their response team, which is comprised of 1,500 line workers, 250 “wiredown response” employees and 400 crews from out of state, will “be in the field until all customers are restored.” Even more crews are being pulled in from out of state to assist with restoration efforts, officials said.
A restoration timeline was not provided for the area. Officials said teams are assessing the damage Thursday morning, but it would be “several hours” before a timeline would be given.
High temperatures will be above freezing in Metro Detroit on Thursday, which should melt the ice accumulation from Wednesday’s storm. Strong winds, however, are expected to stick around through Thursday, and could have a continued impact on power outages throughout the day. See the latest forecast here.
Click here to track power outages in Southeast Michigan on Thursday.
People are urged to stay at least 25 feet away from a downed power line and anything it may be touching, as that could be live, as well.