MICHIGAN — Nearly 80,000 utility customers across Michigan are without electricity Thursday morning as outages continue to impact communities throughout the state.
According to PowerOutage.us, 79,708 customers are currently without power, affecting about 1.57% of the more than 5 million customers tracked statewide.
Barry County is reporting the largest number of outages, with 12,999 customers without service. Kent County follows with 10,061 outages, while Kalamazoo County has 6,798 customers in the dark. Other heavily affected counties include Allegan County with 5,442 outages, Ionia County with 3,700, Ottawa County with 2,866 and Ingham County with 2,804.
By percentage, Barry County is the hardest-hit area in the state, with 38.72% of tracked customers currently without power.
Consumers Energy is reporting the largest number of outages among utilities, with 66,029 customers without service. Great Lakes Energy is reporting 11,486 outages and has the highest percentage of customers affected among major utilities at 8.59%. DTE Energy is reporting 635 outages statewide.
Michigan currently ranks second in the nation for both the total number of power outages and the percentage of customers affected, according to the outage tracking website.
Utility crews are continuing restoration efforts across the state. Residents are urged to avoid downed power lines and report outages directly to their electric provider.
