Remaining Power Restoration Predicted for Late Christmas Eve

Update:  12/22/12, 3:55pm

Consumers Energy reports scattered outages, mostly west of US-31, including the north shore of Bear Lake, the Hopkins Forest Dr. area of the south shore, a stretch of Bear Lake Township along Milarch Rd., bounded by South Shore Dr. on the north side of the affected area and just south of 9 Mile Rd. on the south side of the affected area.  Much of Arcadia, the north side of Portage Lake in Onekama and homes along US-31, between 8 Miles Rd. and Coates Hwy.  The section of Glovers Lake Rd., east of US-31 near Springdale Township, also appears to have continuing outages.

A few scattered outages in Benzie County persist, most notably about 900 customers in Blaine and Gilmore Townships, and including portions of Benzonia along M-115.

Emily Votruba of the Elberta Alert reported that as of mid-afternoon, Stapleton's (US-31 & M-115) was open and pumping gas, that the Maples and FreshWinds church in Frankfort offered heat.

Hear more information about Benzie County conditions from Emily Votruba here:

Cherryland Electric reports a total of about 250 households still without power in its Brethren, Thompsonville and Copemish substation areas.

Chip Kragt, Red Cross Regional Emergency Service Director for West Michigan, says that Little River Casino Resort is now available as a warming shelter.  Earlier this afternoon, he reported that no one had yet arrived to take advantage of the service.  He said that other shelters would be set up on an as-needed basis, based on the calls they receive and the locations that need shelters.  He recommended calling the Muskegon office of the Red Cross at (231) 726-3555.

This morning, CenturyLink reported a restoration time of Wed. Dec. 26 for its landline customers.  During the March 2 storm and during the windstorm of 2011, CenturyLink technicians set up generators to power the phone lines, but such arrangements do not appear to currently be in place.  

12/21/12, 3:00am

The longest night of the year is stretching into the longest weekend, for some. By 1am, early Saturday morning, Consumers Energy had pushed back its 4pm Sat. restoration time to 10:30pm Monday.

Pleasanton Township vacationers arrived for an extended Christmas holiday but found the only festive lights were those across the lake at "Sparkle in thePark." The Red Cross worked to set up a second shelter in Manistee County.

The first, at Safe Harbor on 8th St. near US-31 in Manistee, offered meals and overnight stays on Friday. Plows did not reach some northern county roadsuntil 8:30pm, however, making a 25 mile trip (and driveway departures) impossible.

The second shelter is being planned at Little River Casino Resort, said a Red Cross staffer early Saturday morning, but could not predict an opening time. While snow totals appear to be about half that of the March 2 storm, power and phone restoration may still be days away. vhh # # #