A relatively brief but powerful storm carrying heavy winds that swept across northern Indiana on Thursday, downed trees and damaged power lines causing nearly 20,000 Indiana Michigan Power customers to lose power.

This information comes from I &M Power as of 9 p.m. Thursday night.

The storm hit the Elkhart area in mid-afternoon and disrupted power to about 10,000 customers.

It continued through the Fort Wayne area later in the evening and caused about 9,000 more customers to lose power.

By 9 p.m., I & M crews had restored power to more than 80% of Elkhart area customers and are working to restore about 1,900 customers who remained without service.

Work is continuing and more restorations are expected later Thursday night.

I & M expects most customers will have power restored on Friday. Estimated Times of Restoration will be established for each customer as damage is assessed and crews are dispatched.

Customers can stay informed on their individual outage with the I & M mobile app. IndianaMichiganPower.com/App.

Sign up for text and email alerts at IndianaMichiganPower.com/Alerts,

You can view outages the outage map -  IndianaMichiganPower.com/OutageMap.

SAFETY INFORMATION

• Never touch down power lines. Don't remove tree limbs or debris if it's within 10 feet of a power line. They can carry an electric current that can cause serious or even fatal injuries. If you see downed lines or sparking equipment, call I&M at, 1-800-311- 4634, or call 911.

• Be careful around debris and fences. Fallen limbs and other debris can hide downed power lines, and a downed line may be contacting a fence out of line of sight. Trees could fall or drop limbs at any moment. Be alert and look around – and up.

• Traffic lights may not be functioning. Use caution and be mindful of first responders and utility workers on the roadways.

• We urge you to not to approach our crews. For your safety and ours, do not approach.