Thousands Without Power After Storms
DETROIT (WWJ) - Thousands are left without power Sunday after Mother Nature wreaked havoc on southeastern Michigan Saturday evening.
The storms blew tents over at Arts , Beats, & Eats, delayed football games, and knocked out power to 120,000 homes and businesses.
Click here for the latest weather information.
DTE said about 59,000 customers were still in the dark Sunday evening.
"One of the problems that we're facing is we sent 70 crews out east to help with Hurricane Irene power restoration, so they're on their way back right now," said DTE Spokesman Scott Simons.
Simons says they expect to have half the power restored by late Sunday night.
"There was a lot of lightning last night that hit electrical equipment and high winds, probably 60 to 70 mile an hour winds that toppled trees that came crashing down onto our power lines , so there's a lot of line, line clearance or tree trimming work that needs to be done before we can actually start putting power lines back up and restoring service," said Simons.
The University of Michigan's season opener ended in the third quarter after two weather delays. U of M beat Western Michigan 34-10.
The Eastern Michigan game never started. It was postponed because of torrential rain and lightning.
Heavy rain also led to a delay of the Tigers game as fans were told to get out of the upper decks.
In River Rouge, several people were taken to Oakwood Hospital after a beer tent collapsed at Memorial Park. A fire official who was on the scene says there were many fallen tents. Those taken to the hospital were in the emergency room early Saturday evening. Conditions are not known.
At the Arts, Beats and Eats Festival in Royal Oak, producer Jon Witz told WWJ's Stephanie Davis nobody was injured, although there was some damage.
"We sustained some wind damage that toppled several tents," Witz said Saturday night. But the main performers were going to take the stage Saturday as scheduled.
Witz applauded the people in Royal Oak including the owners of one building who opened their garage so people could take cover.
The Detroit Jazz Festival relocated some musical performances, moving them indoors, and cancelled others Saturday night.
Three performances were moved to the Volt Bar on the 3rd floor of the Detroit Marriott Renaissance Hotel.
All other scheduled performances were cancelled.
Organizers said all performances for Sunday were to continue as scheduled pending review of the weather.
Wind gusts of 60 miles per hour were reported in Ferndale. A 55 miles per hour gust was reported near Dexter in Washtenaw County. Trees and power lines were down throughout Metro Detroit.
To report an outage call 1-800-477-4747. Spokesman Scott Simons said it's unclear when full restoration will be made. He also warned people to stay away from downed lines.
A number of traffic signals are out. Drivers should treat those intersections as four way stops. Click here for the latest traffic information.
Tune to WWJ Newsradio 950 for complete coverage.
