Indiana Michigan Power has restored power to nearly two-thirds of the more than 32,000 customers affected by three separate storms over a 24-hour period Tuesday-Wednesday. This includes restoration for more than 8,000 customers who lost service Wednesday afternoon during a heavy windstorm that broke or damaged more than 50 poles and impacted other equipment essential to serve our customers.
Wind gusts of 64 mph were reported Wednesday afternoon in Fort Wayne and 60 mph in New Haven, near a heavily damaged area where multiple poles were broken and damaged. Multiple outages also occurred in eastern Fort Wayne, and in areas around Churubusco, Ligonier and Butler.
Gusts of 80 mph were reported in communities just west of Marion, an area where more than 3,000 customers lost service.
A full contingent of Fort Wayne- and Marion/Muncie-based crews continue to work to restore power in their respective areas, while I&M crews and contractors from other locations have joined the restoration work in Fort Wayne to safely restore power as soon as possible for all customers.
Crews also are working to complete restoration in the South Bend/Elkhart area, where a limited number of outages occurred Wednesday. On Wednesday night, I&M completed the restoration of power to all customers who lost service in two separate storms that occurred Tuesday night.
OUTAGE NUMBERS:
The approximate number of outages that occurred during the wind storms of Tuesday-Wednesday:
Indiana Total Customer Outages:
Fort Wayne area: 9,300
Marion/Muncie area: 400
South Bend/Elkhart area: 100
ESTIMATED RESTORATION TIMES (ETRs)
By 3 p.m., I&M expects to restore power to the remaining Marion/Muncie area customers and customers in the Avilla area, north/northwest of Fort Wayne.
Damage is more widespread and extensive in Fort Wayne and east of Fort Wayne, where the estimated time of restoration (ETR) for 80% of customers is 11 p.m. today, and for 100% of customers, 11 p.m. Friday.
SAFETY INFO
Given the high winds, accompanied by heavy rainfall at times, please pay attention to several safety precautions:
- Downed power lines. Stay away from any downed wires and report them to I&M. You can call us at 800-311-4634, report on our app or website, or call 911.
- Though the storm has ended, trees could still fall or drop limbs at any moment, please look up.
- Standing water could hide debris or even downed wires.
- Roads may still be wet, slick and covered with debris.
- Traffic lights may not be functioning. Please use caution and be mindful of first responders and utility workers on the roadways.
- Crews will be following all CDC guidelines on physical distancing and we urge the general public not to approach our crews.
- Temperatures and humidity levels remain high for this time of the year. We urge anyone working outside to look for signs of heat stress and take appropriate precautions at the first sign of heat-related fatigue.
STAY INFORMED
I&M encourages customers to use the Indiana Michigan Power app to monitor the status of any outage affecting your home or business. IndianaMichiganPower.com/App
You can sign up for text and email alerts on the app or at IndianaMichiganPower.com/Alerts
See the location and status of outages using our outage map at IndianaMichiganPower.com/OutageMap
For the latest updates please follow Indiana Michigan Power on Facebook and find us on Twitter @IN_MI_Power