With more than 200 utility specialists on the ground, I&M has restored power to nearly 90% of the nearly 20,000 customers who lost service across southwest Michigan and northern Indiana.

Indiana Michigan Power brought in additional crews from outside of I&M to supplement our internal crews and contractors to help restore power in southwest Michigan, which was hard-hit by overnight storms Friday night and early Saturday.

I&M has restored service to all customers in the areas of Fort Wayne, South Bend/Elkhart and Buchanan, Mich., with South Bend crews moving to Michigan to complete restoration there.

As crews are assigned to move to an outage, more precise estimated times of restoration will be established, which customers can view online. (See "Stay Informed", below.)

Overall, I&M continues to expect to restore power to virtually all affected customers in the Three Rivers area by 3 p.m. today and in the hardest hit area of Benton Harbor by 11 p.m. Complete restoration to fewer than 100 customers near Paw Paw may continue beyond 3 p.m. due to heavy damage to a circuit there. Crews will continue to work to restore power until all customers have service.

I&M reminds our customers that temperatures and humidity levels remain high. We urge anyone working or spending much time outside to look for signs of heat stress and take appropriate precautions at the first sign of heat-related fatigue.

OUTAGE NUMBERS:.

Approximate outage numbers are:

Michigan Total Customer Outages: 2,700

Benton Harbor area: 2,300

Three Rivers area: 400

STAY INFORMED

I&M encourages customers to use the Indiana Michigan Power app to monitor the status of any outage affecting your home or business. IndianaMichiganPower.com/App

You can sign up for text and email alerts on the app or at IndianaMichiganPower.com/Alerts

See the location and status of outages using our outage map at IndianaMichiganPower.com/OutageMap

For the latest updates please follow Indiana Michigan Power on Facebook and find us on Twitter @IN_MI_Power

SAFETY INFO

Please pay attention to several safety precautions:

• Downed power lines. Stay away from any downed wires and report them to I&M. You can call us at 800-311-4634, report on our app or website, or call 911.

• Trees could fall or drop limbs at any moment, please look up.

• Standing water could hide debris or even downed wires.

• Roads will likely be wet, slick and covered with debris.

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

• Crews will be following all CDC guidelines on physical distancing and we urge the general public not to approach our crews.

• Temperatures and humidity levels remain high for this time of the year. We urge anyone working outside to look for signs of heat stress and take appropriate precautions at the first sign of heat-related fatigue.