“My hopes are they get it back on early. I really don’t enjoy thinking about another whole night in here. I mean, it’s so cold out, even this little house which holds heat well, has cooled down. It’s going to take a lot to warm it up,” said a 77-year-old Mesick woman who wants to remain anonymous.
The Messick resident said she wasn’t able to take a warm shower today and get dressed.
The Michigan power outage caused 31,000 Michiganders to be without power in freezing temperatures beginning yesterday.
“I have three burners on the stove. The gas stove is going and that’s keeping my kitchen at about 55, so that’s manageable. More manageable than the rest of the house. But that’s all I can do. I have a flashlight, that’s what I used, now I got batteries for that.”
While keeping burners on, or the oven running are popular methods of staying warm in the midst of power outages, Cherryland Electric Co-operative said they are dangerous, risking fire hazards and carbon monoxide poisoning.
“I would encourage people to seek out heating centers or warming centers versus trying to do something like that just because safety is the number one priority,” said Courtney Doyle.
The power outage was caused by high winds ranging between 51 miles per hour, topping out at 61.
Broken power lines, fallen trees are all part of the damages left to fix in addition to restoring power to homes.
“Our goal overall is, in all cases, to get the power back on in 24 hours or less, even in the most severe weather,” said Consumers Energy spokesperson Brian Wheeler.
At the time of this interview Consumers Energy restored power to all but a few hundred homes.
More bad weather is expected Saturday, Consumers Energy wants people to know how to prepare for power outages before they happen.
“Make sure you’ve got a good supply of food and water. For example, in your home, charge your phones to be ready, and just have a good plan, if you don’t think you can be in your own home for an extended period of time, where else would you go?” said Wheeler.