Severe thunderstorms cause historic power outage across Michigan, U.S. – more than 900 000 homes without power
Image credit: NOAA/GOES-East, RAMMB/CIRA, TW. Acquired at 22:50 UTC on August 12, 2021
Two rounds of severe thunderstorms hit Michigan from Tuesday to Thursday, August 10 to 12, 2021. Strong winds and heavy rains brought by the storm decimated the power supply network, leaving more than 900 000 homes and businesses without power.
Winds up to 110 km/h (70 mph) were registered in the metro Detroit area and between 50 and 100 mm (2 – 4 inches) of accumulated rainfall from both rainfalls, said NWS meteorologist Sara Schultz.1
"These three days of storm activity rank among the top 10 storms in our company's 135-year history," said Guy Packard, Consumers Energy’s vice president for electric operations.
Some 371 000 Consumers Energy customers were without power at the height of the storm, of those 184 000 had their power restored by 21:45 LT on August 12.
An additional 550 000 DTE customers were left without power, bringing the total to more than 900 000.
As of 19:50 UTC on August 13, a total of 628 480 customers remain without power.
Image credit: NOAA/GOES-East, RAMMB/CIRA, TW. Acquired at 22:50 UTC on August 12, 2021
The first round of severe thunderstorms rolled through parts of the U.S. Midwest on Tuesday night, August 10, 2021, into Wednesday, leaving more than 460 000 customers without power in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Illinois.2
Image credit: NOAA/GOES-East, RAMMB/CIRA, TW. Acquired at 23:00 UTC on August 10, 2021
References
1 Historic power outage sparks both chaos and camaraderie for 700,000 left in the dark – Detroit Free Press
2 More than 460 000 customers without power as severe thunderstorms hit Michigan, Wisconsin and Illinois, U.S. – The Watchers
Teo Blašković founded The Watchers in 2011 and edited it until 2026, covering seismic and volcanic activity, extreme weather, space weather and near-Earth objects. Articles on this page are his archive.
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