Consumers Energy urges patience as Barry County customers fed up with outages

BARRY COUNTY, Mich. — While progress has been made fixing the damage from Sunday’s storm, thousands of people will likely go into Monday night without electricity.

That includes a large portion of Barry County, where crews were seen throughout the day working on the lines.

The high winds have toppled trees and damaged property, and the resulting power outages are a situation many residents are fed up with after seeing it many times before.

“I have power lines two ways from north and south and the other one goes east and west right here,” Johnstown resident, John Gamble, said. “And trees, they’re both right through the woods.”

Gamble said he’s dealt with frequent outages for years.

He’s so prepared that he’s bought a generator to be able to prepare meals and light his house ahead of time, after paying thousands in repairs over flickering electricity.

For him, Consumers Energy hasn’t done enough to prevent the damage before fixing it.

“Do a little more with the tree maintenance. It needs to be done if you’re going to provide stable power,” he said.

A representative tells News Channel 3 this storm was unique, and tough to prepare for even with several days’ notice.

It started with ice in the northern part of the state, before transitioning into the severe weather we’ve seen in the southwest.

The company said it’s resulted in more than 700 crews from four states out fixing lines right now, standing by in the spots expected to be hit the hardest.

“We understand that in the spring and in the summer, we’re going to have severe weather and we’re always prepared for that,” Consumers Energy Media Relations Specialist Matt Johnson said.

If you’re wondering when your own lights will come back on, the outage map on Consumers Energy’s website has a rough approximation.

A green outline on the map shows if a crew has been dispatched to your area or not.

If it doesn’t show that your power is out, you can call 1-800-477-5050, and the company says it appreciates your patience.

“We just want people to understand that we feel your pain, and we’re working as hard as we can to get your power back on,” Johnson said.

Consumers Energy estimates that power will be restored to Dowling about 6:30 pm on Tuesday night.

However, some customers have told us they’ve been hearing sooner restoration times than that.