(WWJ) – DTE Energy officials say an estimated 173,000 customers are still without power Sunday morning, days after an ice storm ravaged Southeast Michigan.
DTE Executive Vice President Matt Paul says there were about 630,000 customers without power at the peak of the outages after Wednesday’s storm, which brought down an estimated 8,000 lines.
DTE officials initially estimated most people would have power restored by Sunday, but now Paul officials say some may not have power back until Tuesday.
Paul told WWJ Sunday will be a busy working day for many DTE linemen and women working to restore power, noting they’re working as quickly as they can.
“Times like this are extremely difficult and that’s why we’re doing everything we can to get everyone back as quickly and safely as we can,” Paul said. “We’re spending a lot of time and focus on working with our partners, warming centers and other partners, focused on our vulnerable communities.”
Frustration has grown for many DTE customers over the past several days. WWJ listener Cheryl from Allen Park says her family lost power in the middle of the storm and still doesn’t have it back, despite getting a text from DTE saying otherwise.
“They actually said that the case is closed,” she told WWJ Sunday morning. “We haven’t had power since Wednesday. They told us it’d be back on Friday, and then subsequently, then they told us via text that it’d be back on Saturday, and it never came back on, and today it’s still off.”
But others are grateful for help from the community in a time of need. Pat and her husband Jerry visited a Dearborn Heights warming facility after concerns of not being able to fill up her oxygen tank due to their power being out.
Pat says they were met with kindness and hospitality.
“It’s an eye-opener. It really is. We take so much for granted in our daily lives. Several years ago when we lost power, I wasn’t on oxygen then, but I can just imagine what it was like for those that were,” she told WWJ.
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