High winds knock out power to thousands in SE Michigan
FOX 2 - High winds whipping across Metro Detroit are starting to disrupt power in portions of SE Michigan Friday.
The backstory:
More than 2,500 DTE customers are without power according to the outage map. At one point earlier today the outage number was closer to 20,000.
The highest-recorded winds today include gusts of 67 miles per hour at Detroit Metropolitan Airport in Romulus and 66 miles per hour at Detroit City Airport in Wayne County.
Gusts in Washtenaw County have reached into the high 50s in Ann Arbor (59) and Detroit Willow Run Airport (56).
Macomb County has also been feeling the brunt of the high winds with a gust of 59 reported at Selfridge Air National Guard Base.
Various intersections have traffic light outages around Metro Detroit.
DTE released a statement about restoration efforts and the importance of staying away from downed power lines. Treat every downed line to be active.
"DTE’s Storm Response Teams are working as quickly and safely as possible to restore power to everyone impacted. Report any outage or downed power line.
"Please stay safe. Keep at least 25 feet away from any downed power lines and anything they are in contact with — consider them live and dangerous."
Stay with FOX 2 for more information as it becomes available.
For the DTE Outage Map click here.
The Source: Information for this report is from DTE and the National Weather Service.