LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) — Consumers Energy expects to restore statewide outages by the end of Sunday, the utility said in a news release Saturday morning.

As of 4:20 p.m. Saturday, the state’s largest utility was reporting that it had restored power to all but 106,613 homes and business affected by Thursday night’s storms. The utility reported that nearly 200,000 homes and businesses had originally lost power.

The National Weather Service confirmed that seven tornadoes touched down in Michigan during the evening’s storms, including an EF-2 tornado that developed over northeast Ingham County and tracked 12 miles into Livingston County, near Fowlerville, before it dissipated.

Consumers is assisted by crews from as far as Pennsylvania, Alabama and Kentucky who are working 16-hour shifts to restore customers’ power, the utility said Saturday.

“Our communities are depending on us to safely and quickly get power restored so they can begin healing from the damage and devastation of the storms,” said Chris Laird, one of Consumers Energy’s Officers in Charge for power restoration.

Consumers also issued the following safety tips:

  • Stay at least 25 feet away from a downed power line.
  • Report unguarded downed lines by calling 911 and Consumers Energy at 800-477-5050.
  • Be alert to crews working along roads. Drivers should slow down or stop and wait for oncoming traffic to clear so they can safely go past workers on roadsides.
  • Never use a generator in an attached garage, basement, enclosed patio or near any air intakes. Doing so could cause a generator to produce hazardous levels of carbon monoxide, an odorless, colorless and deadly gas.
  • Consumers Energy will trim or remove trees interfering with electric restoration. Once it’s safe to do so, clean-up of debris from tree trimming or removal is the responsibility of individual property owners.
  • In some cases, the mast that holds the electric service wires to a home or business may have been damaged or torn away. Crews will reconnect the wires to the home, but only a licensed electrician can repair or replace a mast or a cable.

You can report an outage or check the status of an outage by clicking here. To get outage alerts and restoration times on a phone, email or text, text ‘REG’ to 232273 or visit here.