(WXYZ) — Tens of thousands of DTE customers in metro Detroit remained without power Monday, four days after strong winds and rain knocked out electricity for nearly 400,000 people Friday night.
Watch Whitney Burney's video report:
DTE has called in crews from nearby states to work around the clock on restoration efforts. The utility says the holiday weekend and widespread outages across the Midwest created a shortage of available workers, making it a challenge to bring in outside help.
"The damage that I am seeing out in the field is some of the most extensive I have ever seen," DTE's Brian Calka said.
Calka explained how the company decides who gets power back first.
RAW VIDEO: Brian Calka, senior vice president at DTE, speaks on restoration progress
"First and foremost, it's about safety. We're trying to get the wires that are on the ground remediated to remove the risk. At the same time, we're trying to make sure that we get critical facilities back online. We're talking pumping stations, hospitals, senior centers, dispatch centers, and then generally we look at the largest outages first," Calka said.
Fallen trees crashing onto power lines were the main contributing factor to the widespread outage, according to DTE. The damage is visible across communities like Huntington Woods, where large trees remain down, and cleanup continues.
Residents there described the moment the storm hit.
"That one was pretty scary and you were starting to think to yourself what's going to happen," Jan Farrace said.
Evan Kardon described the aftermath in his neighborhood.
"Roads were blocked in our neighborhood. 11 (Mile) and Woodward, lights been out for a while, and then at my mom's, just tossing out all of her freezer stuff, which is a lot of food," Kardon said.
John Brandt said the outage was not a surprise given the storm's intensity and the neighborhood's track record of losing power.
"I mean, you look out the window. You see trees half bent over, it's like, yep, we're going to lose power, and sure enough, blip, blip, blip, we lost it," Brandt said.
The costs have started to add up for some residents. Farrace said she has been forced to eat out for days and decided to stay at a hotel for one night.
"We said, well, we're going to try it for one night; we'll probably be back in business tomorrow. Well it's a couple days after tomorrow," Farrace said.
DTE says it has contacted thousands of low-income and senior residents to conduct wellness checks and has distributed 131 generators. The utility company has also deployed vans in at least 4 of the hardest-hit communities to provide charging stations and water.
DTE anticipates power will be restored for 95% of customers by the end of the day Monday, with the remainder expected back online by end of day Tuesday.
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