Power outages affect 14 metro Detroit polling sites after storms

Marc Daalder | Detroit Free Press

Power outages affected 14 polling locations for Michigan's primary elections Tuesday morning in Wayne County, and DTE Energy reports that electricity had been restored to all of them by midafternoon.

Storms that swept through southeast Michigan on Monday left thousands of properties without power, including 40,000 customers of DTE Energy, the utility company reported. Ninety-five percent of customers were expected to have power restored by the end of Tuesday.

Of the affected polling sites, most were in Detroit, and one was in Grosse Pointe Park, according to DTE Energy spokesman Brian Bleau.

Fred Woodhams, communications director for the Michigan Secretary of State's Office, told the Free Press that poll workers were trained to respond to power outages.

"Voting can continue, assuming that there is sufficient light," Woodhams said.

Rashida Tlaib, a Democratic candidate for Michigan's 13th Congressional District, reported Tuesday on Twitter that the power was out at Zion Chapel and Gompers Elementary School, both polling places on Detroit's west side.

Zion Chapel (3000 24th St., Detroit, MI 48216) is without electricity, and is running on a mini-generator. Poll workers are sharing a single flashlight, elevator is out of service, we need the power on ASAP! @DTE_Energy @freep @detroitnews @Local4News @FOX2News @wxyzdetroit — Rashida For Congress (@RashidaTlaib) August 7, 2018

Tlaib said in a tweet that election workers were sharing a single flashlight at the church and that elevators were not functioning.

"We need the power on ASAP!" she wrote.

Power is out at Gompers Elementary School (14450 Burt Rd Detroit MI 48223)! Five precincts vote here, we need the power back on now! @DTE_Energy @freep @detroitnews @Local4News @FOX2News @wxyzdetroit — Rashida For Congress (@RashidaTlaib) August 7, 2018

Also at Freep.com:

A spokesperson for DTE acknowledged the outages in an email.

"We are prioritizing these locations and working closely with city leaders to restore power to affected polling locations as safely and quickly as possible," DTE's Brian Bleau wrote. "We’ll continue to assign crews to these sites as we become aware of them.

"If city leaders are aware of an outage affecting a polling station in their area, we ask that they report it to their day-to-day DTE Energy contact so we can ensure it’s prioritized during our restoration process."

He said DTE Energy was working 24/7 to help customers, about 14,000 of which remained without power by midafternoon Tuesday. The utility reported that downed wires caused many of the power outages, and customers should stay at least 20 feet away from all power lines and anything they’re in contact with, and to consider downed wires live.

The National Weather Service issued a severe thunderstorm watch at 1:45 p.m. Monday just before heavy downpours punctuated by frequent lightning strikes moved through metro Detroit. Belle Isle in Detroit was hit hard by the storm, and witnesses reported trees snapped in half and widespread damage across the state park.

No reports of flooding were issued, although the weather service's hydrologic prediction services reported a 2-foot jump in elevation along the Rouge River.

More severe weather is expected to strike metro Detroit today, with showers likely between 5 p.m. and 11 p.m. It is unclear whether any other polling stations are without power.

For the updated DTE Energy power outage map click here and for DTE Energy downed power lines safety tips click here.

Detroit Free Press reporter Bryce Airgood contributed to this report.

If power was out at your polling place, you can contact Marc Daalder at 313-222-2023 or mdaalder@freepress.com.