Plans to restore power for Elkhart County

By: Johanzy Salamanca
Posted: Jul 17, 2024 3:13 AM EDT | Updated: Jul 17, 2024 2:47 PM EDT

ELKHART COUNTY, Ind.- As of Tuesday night, Indiana Michigan Power (I&M) crews, business partners and assistance crews have restored power to more than 85 percent of customers who lost power in the storms.

Fewer than 3,000 I&M customers remain out of service. Most of the remaining outages are in the Elkhart area, where a confirmed EF1 tornado caused significant damage.

A damage assessment has been evaluated from county officials. In total:

  • 98 broken or damaged poles
  • 327 downed wires
  • 9 damaged transformers

Crews continue to restore power as quickly and safely as possible. I&M still expects to have 90 percent or more of all affected customers restored by 6 p.m. today. 

How I&M restores power:

I&M officials report customers are often concerned when they see crews leave before power is restored.

Officials clarify the entire line must be assessed before power is restored, for the safety of your family and their crews.

They add power restoration is prioritized in four steps to ensure public safety and restore as many customers as quickly as possible.

  • Assessing - Crews identify safety hazards and assess the damage to determine what is needed to make repairs.
  • Essentials - Essential public safety facilities such as hospitals, 911 call centers, water treatment facilities, and police and fire stations are restored first.
  • Large Groups – Next, crews restore power to large clusters of customers where a single repair can restore hundreds or thousands of customers.
  • Small clusters and Individuals - are then restored to complete the process.

UPDATE: While power continues to be restored, thousands of Michiana residents still remain without after the severe Monday night weather. Below numbers are as of 2:44 p.m., Wednesday.

INDIANA

  • St. Joseph County - 355
  • Elkhart County - 2,405
  • Starke County - 637
  • Kosciusko County - 453
  • LaGrange County - 566
  • Marshall County - 342
  • La Porte County - 1,590
  • Fulton County - less than 10
  • Pulaski County - 33

MICHIGAN

  • Berrien County - 53
  • Cass County - less than 10
  • Van Buren County - less than 10
  • St. Joseph County - less than 10

You can view live updates of power outages in your area, here, and I&M customers can view their outage numbers, here.


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