Berrien County Emergency Management officials release storm damage survey

ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, Mich. -- UPDATE: Indiana Michigan Power say crews are continuing to clear the way to damaged equipment and make repairs in the hard-hit Lakeside, Mich., area.

Officials say fallen trees and limbs have blocked access and hampered repair efforts, but crews are making progress and I&M expects to have remaining customers' power restored by 4 p.m. Thursday.

I&M reports Tuesday night’s severe storms caused extensive damage, including over 75 broken or damaged poles, over 180 downed power lines, and 15 damaged transformers.

Customers can receive outage text or email alerts for specific information about their outage here.

You can also view current outages on the I&M outage map.

ORIGINAL: The Berrien County Emergency Management officials have released an online survey for county residents who would like to report storm damage that occurred from the Aug. 27 severe thunderstorms.

“Our teams began assessments today, but; we didn’t capture all of the damage information as many roads were impassable,” said Captain Rockey Adams, Berrien County’s Emergency Management Coordinator. “We don’t want to miss anyone who would like to share their information with us, so; we have opened up a convenient survey for people to fill out.”

“Our teams focused on getting as many roads opened as we could today, and we worked with utility companies closely to restore power to much of the area,” said Sheriff Charles Heit. “We worked through the night with them, the fire departments, and the Road Department to cut the number of outages in half.”

Berrien County officials state that these damage reports will assist in helping them to better assess where all of the damage has occurred and allow them to keep their team members assigned to power restoration tasks and road clearing assignments.