Power crews work around the clock, extensive damage to restore electricity

SAINT JOSEPH COUNTY, Ind. -- Utility trucks flooded the streets of Michiana Monday.

"Our crews have been out since yesterday working around the clock,” says Michael Bianski, a Communications Representative for Indiana Michigan Power.

Hundreds of crew members worked to restore power to several thousand homes that were left in the dark by Sunday night's storm.

"We were able to get quite a few mutual assistance resources in, a lot of personnel between line mechanics, tree trimming, damage assessors,” Bianski says.

The almost unfathomable damage that was left behind posed even more of a risk for crews on the ground.

"Even if everything looks settled and the winds died down, there's still a big risk from what we call a line of fire, but those tree branches can still come down,” explains Bianski. “We have to be very careful about inspecting all the job sites and making sure they have a clear path to work."

I&M wants to remind people who are antsy to get their power back; just because you don't see their trucks in your neighborhood, doesn't mean they're not working on the electrical grid that powers your home.

"The electrical system is fairly complicated and there's a lot of pieces that work together,” says Bianski. “So, if you have an outage at your house, it could be that there's a broken pole 4-5 miles away that's serving the local substation, and our crews are out there working to fix that."

I&M hopes to have all their customers' power restored by Tuesday evening.