2,933 Without Power in Ferndale; Outages Could Continue 'Until Late Saturday Night'

Update 7 p.m.: The number of DTE customers in Ferndale without power grew to 2,933 by Thursday evening, according to a DTE power outage map.

The largest area of outage has an expected restoration time of Friday evening, however a DTE spokeswoman said earlier Thursday that the southeast Michigan region won't be entirely "back to normal" until late Saturday night - assuming no further severe weather.

The National Weather Service has forecast a chance of thunderstorms Thursday, Friday and Saturday for Ferndale.

Residents in need of cooling are encouraged to visit the - which is now open 24/7 until further notice as an official cooling center. Cots, blankets and water bottles will be available.

2:15 p.m.: 2,559 DTE customers in Ferndale are still without power Thursday afternoon, and DTE says a fix may not come until later into the weekend.

"It looks like we won't be back to normal until late Saturday night," DTE spokeswoman Eileen Dixon said Thursday afternoon. "But, that's based on the premise we're not going to get any more bad weather."

210,000 customers in southeast Michigan were without power Thursday afternoon, an increase from 190,000 this morning due to storms that moved through the area, Dixon said.

"All of our crews are working 16-hour shifts and they're working around the clock," Dixon said.

"We've got more than 1,000 power lines down," in southeast Michigan, she said. "It's a big job ahead of us."

At the - which is now open 24/7 as a cooling center until further notice - no one had come in for cooling yet as of Thursday afternoon, Recreation Director Jill Manchik said. But with temperatures expected to reach the high 90s on Friday, she expects it will be used soon.

"We're ready," she said.

10:45 a.m.: Power is now out for more than 2,500 DTE customers in Ferndale after powerful storms whipped through the area Wednesday evening.

Ferndale Mayor Dave Coulter posted on Patch that the is now open 24/7 until further notice for resisdents affected by either the storm or the heat.

Priority is given to the elderly, disabled, and families with children.

"As always, keep an eye on your senior neighbors and anyone who may need to get out of the heat, it's going to be another hot one," Coulter wrote.

City Hall is closed due to the outage and several other properties on East Nine Mile Road are without power. Ferndale Library Director Kate Pohjola announced Thursday morning that power is out at the library and that it will not be opening today.

DTE's outage map showed 1,137 customers were without power as of 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday and the number continued to grow overnight, with power out for 2,559 customers by 7 a.m. At 10:30 a.m., the number of customers affected remained at 2,559.

An estimated restoration time is not yet available.

As of 8 a.m. Thursday morning, DTE spokesman Scott Simons said 190,000 customers were without power in southeast Michigan.

"This is the fourth storm we've had since Tuesday morning, so we have to keep reassessing priorities," he said. "But, we do know the restoration process will take us into the weekend."

Simons said the utility had reduced the outage number from Tuesday's storms to 17,000 before a Wednesday evening storm hit, followed by what DTE experienced as the most severe storm of the week overnight.

DTE has recalled 100 linemen who were sent to Ohio to help with repairs after storms there last week and expects to have a power restoration estimate later today.

For more information on the cooling center, call the Kulick Center at 248-544-6767. View the outage map here.