Indiana Michigan Power continues to restore power to customers in and around Benton Harbor, South Bend and Fort Wayne, with assistance of hundreds of additional personnel joining I&M employees.

At 1 p.m., I&M had restored power to more than 80% of the nearly 52,000 customers across I&M’s service territory who lost service in Monday evening’s derecho.

More than 450 power-line professionals are working to restore power in the Benton Harbor area, which saw heavy damage caused by winds of up to 66 mph. The line crews are supplemented by forestry personnel, who aid in removing trees and branches away from power equipment, as well as other support personnel.

To help direct the best number of personnel armed with the best equipment for the terrain in harder-to-reach areas outside Benton Harbor, I&M is also using drones to evaluate damage. All drone flights are conducted by an FAA-licensed drone pilot accompanied by a qualified observer.

Estimated times of restoration are listed below. Earlier times of restoration are being established for customers in the Benton Harbor area and other places as individual outages are assessed and crews assigned.  Customers who sign up for mobile alerts or check our online outage map may find earlier times have been entered by crews assigned to specific outages. See the “Stay Informed” section below.

OUTAGE COUNTS

Michigan total customers: 8,650

Benton Harbor area: 8,575

Buchanan area: Less than 100

Three Rivers area: Less than 100

Indiana total customers: 800

Fort Wayne area: 375

South Bend area: 450

ESTIMATED TIMES of RESTORATION (ETRs)

I&M has set estimated times of restoration for its service territory. These are the estimated times when the last customers are expected to be restored. Power to most customers will be restored before those times. Customers who sign up for mobile alerts or check our online outage map may find earlier times have been entered by crews assigned to specific outages. See the “Stay Informed” section below.

INDIANA

Fort Wayne and Avilla area: 11 p.m. Thursday

Decatur area: All restored

South Bend/Elkhart area: 11 p.m. today

Muncie/Marion area: All restored

MICHIGAN
Benton Harbor area: 11 p.m. Friday

Buchanan area: 11 p.m. today

Three Rivers area: 11 p.m. today

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

SAFETY INFORMATION

I&M reminds our customers and the general public of the possible dangers in the wake of the storm:

• 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. Downed wires may be hidden by limbs and debris or touching a fence, so look carefully before cleaning up after the storm.
• Trees could fall or drop limbs at any moment, please look up. Even after the storm subsided, damaged trees, branches and limbs could still fall.
• 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.
• As we move into working on individual outages, crews will be working in smaller neighborhoods, side streets, and backyards. Please keep pets secured and away from work areas.