3,000 remain without power in Washtenaw; most should be back tonight

By Bob Needham Entertainment Director

Posted on Sat, Jul 7, 2012 : 9:26 a.m.

DTE Energy said Saturday morning that although about 3,000 customers remain without electricity in Washtenaw County, most should see their power restored today or tonight.

"We should have the vast majority back by late tonight," DTE spokesperson Scott Simons said this morning. Some isolated repairs will likely extend into Sunday, he added.

DTE crews have been working steadily since Thursday's storms, which knocked out power to about 15,000 customers in Washtenaw County and thousands more throughout the region.

SImons noted that DTE is now dealing with "a couple thousand" individual outage problems, each of which may take as long to resolve as a problem affecting hundreds of customers at once. "We're entering the slowest part of the restoration process," he said.

Simons added that DTE appreciates its customers' continued patience. DTE's website has a map showing current outages; although the map was down for a time this morning, it was expected to be working again shortly.

Today's weather forecast expects continued extreme heat, with a high temperature above 100 degrees. After a low of 64 tonight, the heat is expected to moderate tomorrow, with a high of around 84. Thunderstorms are possible today and tonight.