Michigan public power utilities recently detailed their quick response to storms and tornadoes that hit the state this month.
“I say it all the time, but mutual aid storm response is one of the worst and best parts of the job,” said Katie Abrams, Executive Director of the Michigan Municipal Electric Association.
“The worst because individuals are without an essential service and our workers are putting their lives at risk to restore power, but it’s also the best because time and time again our lineworkers don’t flinch from the extreme test of their well-honed skills that become so evident over the course of storm recovery,” she said.
“Storm response beautifully demonstrates the very fabric of who we are as public power and what we represent. It’s about providing the best for the people and coming together to help those in need.”
Extreme weather recently disrupted power for over 3,200 customers in Grand Haven, Ferrysburg, and Spring Lake Township, Michigan, the Grand Haven Board of Light and Power noted.
It began restoration efforts immediately following the storm on the night of May 15. By Saturday evening, May 17, crews had restored power to all areas.
At the BLP’s request for mutual aid, Traverse City Light & Power, Flory Line Construction and Midwest Power Line sent line crews to assist in recovery efforts. Get-R-Cut and Treeworks, Inc. also sent crews to help clear lines.
“We had all hands-on deck. Our utility workers were putting in 16 hours per day,” according to Austin Gagnon, Distribution & Engineering Manager for Grand Haven BLP. “The outside assistance we received was very much appreciated. Considering the amount of damage that was done from the initial storm, and the setback of Friday night’s damage, we were able to restore power back to our community very quickly. We couldn’t be more proud of the effort our entire team put in to getting our community’s power back on. They had the majority of customers’ power back within 24 hours.”
Heavy storm winds blew trees onto power lines, toppled power poles, and pulled service masts from several homes. While repairs were still in progress, a second storm on Friday evening took down additional trees and power lines.
The areas hit hardest were Ferrysburg, the East side of Grand Haven, the West End of Spring Lake Township, and a small pocket on the Southwest end of Grand Haven.
Rob Shelley, General Manager for Grand Haven BLP, commented, “The support from the community was overwhelming and that goes along ways with our electrical workers fighting through long hours to fix the damage to get people’s power back on. People understood just how significant this storm was. We have some of the best crews in the industry, and they put in yeoman’s work to get everyone’s power back on. We also want to thank Traverse City Light & Power, Flory Line Construction, Midwest Power Line, Get-R-Cut, and Treeworks, Inc for coming in and lending a hand. Without their efforts, the restoration would have taken much longer.”
The BLP linemen have responded to multiple extreme whether events recently, including several days deployed to assist Petosky with mutual aid after a severe ice storm on March 28 and last year’s damage in Florida following Hurricane Milton.
The BLP employs 10 linemen and 4 tree trimmers, who provide service to over 15,000 customers in the greater Grand Haven region.
Steve Bruinsma, Electric Distribution Superintendent for Michigan public power utility Holland Board of Public Works, noted that on the evening of May 15, Michigan had numerous tornados and strong winds, accompanied by lightning and rain. These storms produced winds that took down trees and damaged structures.
All municipalities in Michigan, along with cooperatives and investor-owned utilities had large outage numbers, he said.
Holland received aid from the Michigan public power communities of Zeeland, Niles, Lowell, and Hillsdale, he noted.
As of May 21, most utilities had sent home responding crews and were getting back to normal operations.
Holland BPW had its customers back online at noon on Sunday, May 18, and Lansing with larger outages had its customers online as of May 21.
Holland BPW utilized mutual aid, which is uncommon for it to do as it normally sends crews to other utilities.
“I’d say that the mutual aid was well utilized and functioned well,” Bruinsma said.
He expressed thanks in particular to Scott McKenzie, Senior Director of Member Training and Safety American Municipal Power, Inc, who “was a great help sending crews up from Ohio to help in Lansing.”
“I’m pleased to announce all customers who can draw power from the Lansing Board of Water & Light (BWL) can now do so,” said BWL General Manager Dick Peffley on May 21. “This means we’re fully restored, except for those customers who may require service reconnects due to damaged masts – the vertical pole attached to the house that connects power from the pole to the meter – which we are continuing to work on,” he said.
“Even though our restoration is complete, we may continue to see isolated outages in the coming days as storm-weakened trees and branches come down. Last Thursday night’s tornado was the worst damage to our transmission system that we’ve ever seen in our service territory, resulting in 28 broken transmission poles and 39 broken distribution poles,” Peffley said.
“Despite an unprecedented amount of damage, we had over 70 tree and line crews, along with support staff, working around the clock to restore power to over 24,300 customers in five days without a single safety incident. I want to thank our customers for their patience and understanding through this storm, and for our mutual aid partners who answered the call to help.”
