GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- On a day when a National Weather Service Heat Advisory was set to take effect at noon, it was not good news for some West Michigan residents to learn Monday that their electrical service was interrupted.
Consumers Energy reported the outages were widely scattered, with more than 900 in the Hastings area Monday afternoon. The utility company said the problem was first reported around 1:30, and repair crews are estimating the lights will be back on by around 6:15 p.m. In Wayland Township, about 120 homes and businesses lost power around 1 o'clock and the estimated time of restoration was 5:30 p.m. Monday.
The utility company said it was working to restore power as quickly as possible.
About 80 Consumers customers near 28th Street and Kraft Avenue in Cascade Township had been without electrical service since 9:30 Monday morning and they were informed they would have to wait until around 7 p.m. Monday for the power to return.
Earlier in the day, Consumers Energy reported a squirrel that got into a substation caused about 4,300 outages around 9:30 Monday morning on Grand Rapids' near West Side and on the southwest side, around the Black Hills neighborhood. The lights came back on for most of those customers by early afternoon.
Some sections south of I-196 (the Gerald R. Ford Freeway) and west of U.S.-131 were affected.
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