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DTE Works To Restore Power To Thousands Following Storms

SOUTHFIELD (WWJ) -  DTE Energy crews are making some progress in restoring power to tens of thousands of homes and businesses that lost electricity during recent storms.

At 5 p.m. Thursday, nearly 200,000 DTE customers remained without service.

[GALLERY] Metro Detroit Storm Damage

The majority of the outages were in Oakland County, where about 90,000 were without power. About 50,000 were without power in Wayne County, 23,000 in Washtenaw County and 17,000 in Macomb County. The remaining outages are scattered throughout DTE Energy's service area.

A power outage map is available at this link.

DTE spokesman Alehandro Bodipo-Memba said Michigan crews that have been helping restore power in Ohio and along the East Coast have been called back to this area.

This is the fourth storm that has hit the area in the last 48 hours, affecting more than 320,000 customers in total.  DTE estimated more than 1,000 power lines were down Thursday morning.

DTE's Scott Simons said lineman have been working around the clock following several storms in two days.  He said crews will continue to work 16-hour shifts through the weekend to restore service.

"These guys are working in tremendous heat. They're carrying 60 pounds of equipment up a pole. They're a dedicated bunch," said Simons.  "It's really a laborious process. It's just one of those things where we just keep getting slammed over and over again."

(Enter your address to get an estimated time when you power will be restored at this link).

Early in the morning, wind gusts of 65 miles per hour were being reported in Wixom. And, 60 mile per hour wind gusts were being reported in Dexter, where a large tree has fallen on power lines at Dexter-Chelsea Road and Lima Center Road.

In Brighton, a tree was knocked down at Crooked Lake and Door Road. While in Clinton County, just north of Lansing, there are reports of more than 100 trees knocked down by wind and rain, blocking several roads as a result.

About 2,600 customers were out in the New Baltimore area, while another 2,000 customers are out in the area of 18 Mile and Van Dyke in Sterling Heights. At least five thousand outages are reported in the area near Orchard Lake and Keego Harbor. And another major outage has been reported near Walled Lake.

Detroit residents were dealing with multiple downed trees, particularly in the area of 7 Mile Road and Woodward Ave., and also in the Palmer Woods neighborhood. (More on this here).

DTE reminds local residents to exercise extreme caution and assume any wire is live.  Stay at least 20 feet away from any downed wire and anything it's in contact with, keep children and pets away and call DTE Energy at (800) 477-4747 to report downed lines.

Tips: Stay Safe During A Power Outage

Stay with WWJ Newsradio 950 for the latest weather updates, or click here for more on the weather.

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