Power Outages Linger in Michigan; Flood Warnings Remain

Flood warnings remained in effect Dec. 30 for areas along most of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula’s major rivers and streams as crews worked to restore electrical service to thousands left without power since the weekend.

About 20,000 of 183,000 CMS Energy Corp. customers who lost electrical service during recent storms remained without service Tuesday morning. About 45,000 of 230,000 DTE Energy Co. customers were waiting for their power to be restored.

Both utilities brought in workers from Indiana, Ohio and other states to help restore electricity, Jackson-based CMS and Detroit-based DTE said. The power companies said they expected service to be fully restored by Dec. 31.

The weekend storms brought rain and unusually warm temperatures, prompting the National Weather Service to issue flood warnings for the Saginaw and Grand Rivers and their major tributaries. Moderate flooding was reported at Frankenmuth on the Cass River in Saginaw County and New Richmond on the Kalamazoo River in Allegan County.

An ice jam on the fast-moving Shiawassee River struck the Parshallburg Bridge in Chesaning on Sunday afternoon, knocking the 109-year-old iron bridge off its footings and pushing it about 20 yards downstream.