Crews busy restoring power in Berrien County

COVERT, Mich. – Thousands of residents in Berrien County, Michigan are still without power because of Wednesday night storms. The straight line winds hit the area hard enough to uproot trees and knock down power lines.

Emergency crews are hard at work today---cleaning up and restoring power.

"We're well under way, still assessing, we're still getting obviously numbers in, but for the most part we're working towards getting people back in power,” said Jim Finan, Spokesman for Indiana Michigan Power.

It hasn't been an easy process for Indiana Michigan Power crews or Midwest Energy Cooperative.

"In heavily wooded areas like this there's just a lot of damage. We have to go in and clean up the damage before we can even begin really working on the restoration efforts,” said Patty Nowlin, Director of Communications for Midwest Energy Cooperative.

With debris on homes and trees uprooted, the process could take days.

But both power companies are using all of their resources to get the job done.

"We've got crews coming in from Grand Rapids that help bolster that effort to get people restored,” said Finan.

"The guys came out beginning at midnight last night and have been working through the day. We have fresh crews coming out every few hours and we'll keep at it until we've got everybody back up again,” said Nowlin.

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