Severe storms, including a tornado, ripped through our communities last week leaving a trail of uprooted trees, broken and damaged power poles, downed wires and tens of thousands of our customers without power.

This was one of the largest storm restoration efforts we’ve seen in a decade. But in the middle of hot, humid and exhausting conditions, more than 2,200 restoration workers and support staff showed up for our customers – es

pecially in the hard-hit areas of Elkhart County, Indiana and Three Rivers, Michigan.

“Our team worked safely and around the clock repairing 276 broken or damaged poles and restringing more than 700 spans of downed wire,” said Jennifer Ellis, vice president of distribution region operations. “Every repair mattered because it helped us restore normal life for families and businesses – back into their homes, routines and the comfort of air conditioning on a hot weekend.”

Within 48 hours, power was restored to nearly all the approximately 62,000 affected customers. We are grateful to our customers for their patience as crew members safely worked to make things right. We also thank the customers who sent messages on social media channels like the ones below for our workers:

• “Fantastic response! Appreciate every woman and man that helped get our community back up and running!” - Steve
• “Thank you will never be enough for everything your crew has done for our community. You are all SO appreciated!” - Zoee
• “Thank you all so much for all the efforts you put in to get us all our electricity back. When my lights came back on, it was as if a giant weight was lifted off my chest. You folks are awesome!” - Pat
• “Thank you so much I really appreciate your hard work. At first, I was a little bit impatient, but after I read on the I&M website why it was taking so long with a detailed description, I understood.’ – Karen.

We are in the active summer storm season and know when the next storm passes our crews will be there – climbing poles, clearing damage, rebuilding power lines and setting power poles as we remain dedicated to showing up for our customers and communities.

What You Can Do Before the Next Storm:

• Plan Ahead: I&M customers are encouraged to charge phones and have backup batteries, water, and medications on hand. Prepare a storm kit.
• Connect with I&M: Customers should update their I&M account information. Make sure the email address and phone number on file are up to date.
• Sign up for Outage Alerts: The fastest way to get information is through the I&M app and text or email alerts. The app shows outage details for your home or business, and alerts can include estimated restoration times. Customers can download the app and enroll in alerts here.