Strong thunderstorms with significant lightning and high winds swept through southwest Michigan and northern Indiana Friday night and early Saturday, disrupting service to nearly 20,000 Indiana Michigan Power customers.

By 8:30 a.m. Saturday, I&M had restored nearly 30% of those customers. Crews are in the field to restore outages in southwest Michigan, northeast Indiana and in the South Bend/Elkhart area and will continue working until all customers are restored.

Southwest Michigan was the hardest-hit area, with heavy tree damage reported and recorded wind gusts of 68 mph in Buchanan and 64 mph in Benton Harbor.

SAFETY INFO

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.

• Trees could fall or drop limbs at any moment, please look up.

• Standing water could hide debris or even downed wires.

• Roads will likely 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.

OUTAGE NUMBERS:

As of 8:30 a.m., approximate outage numbers were:

Michigan Total Customer Outages: 11,500

Benton Harbor area:  6,700

Buchanan area:  500

Three Rivers area:  4,250

Indiana Total Customer Outages: 2,440

Fort Wayne area:  1,670

South Bend/Elkhart area:  770

ESTIMATED RESTORATION TIMES (ETRs)

Estimated Times of Restoration will be determined and announced after all of the widespread damage is assessed.

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