Indiana Michigan Power has restored service to more than 80% of customers who lost power during Wednesday’s windstorm. More than 270 employees and contractors from across I&M’s service area continue to work to restore power to the remaining 3,000 customers.

The storm damage requires I&M crews to replace 36 broken poles and repair at least 17 damaged poles. Crews resolved several major outages throughout the day Wednesday, and most remaining outages involve smaller numbers of customers.

Three separate storms on Tuesday evening, overnight Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon disrupted service to about 32,000 I&M customers. Our crews have worked up to 16 hours each day and have restored power to 90% of the customers who lost power as a result of storm damage.

OUTAGE NUMBERS (APPROXIMATE):

Fort Wayne area: 3,000

Marion/Muncie area: Less than 100

ESTIMATED RESTORATION TIMES (ETRs)

I&M expects to restore power to the vast majority of remaining Marion/Muncie area customers and customers in the Avilla area, north/northwest of Fort Wayne, yet this afternoon.

I&M has already surpassed its estimate of restoring 80% of Fort Wayne area customers by 11 p.m. today. Restoration will continue throughout the evening.  90% of customers are expected to be restored by 11 p.m. this evening with 100% of customers expected to be restored by 11 p.m. Friday.

As crews continue to make progress, more specific ETRs will be available. Customers can keep up with the latest information specific to their account with our mobile app, outage map, or mobile alerts.

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