3,900 without power as progress continues on power restoration and clean-up

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) Indiana Michigan Power has exceeded its goal of 80 percent completion by late Wednesday night and had had restored power to 95% percent of Fort Wayne by Thursday morning. 

About 3,900 I&M customers in Allen County were without power as of 7 a.m. on Thursday.

All traffic signals were working on Thursday.

Work is expected to continue into the weekend to restore service to complete the restoration.

The heat is not only making it hard for people without power, it's causing complications for crews working to restore the power. I&M officials told NewsChannel 15 that crews are working in 20-minute increments to prevent becoming overheated.

Residents are encouraged to put debris from the storm on the curb. The city is currently making a sweep to clean up debris and second sweep will take place after the first one is completed.

Customers living in counties other than Allen County who are still without service since Friday are encouraged to call 800-311-4634 and report their outage again.

The power company has asked residents with power to turn on porch lights. This will help patrolling service technicians identify residences in neighborhoods that are still without power.

County Commissioners called for a State of Emergency on Monday and, as part of that, are asking everyone to report damage to Indiana's Department of Homeland Security.

Click here to Report Damage from Severe Weather on June 29 to Ind. DHS

A press release on Tuesday from the city stated that Mayor Henry has been in constant contact with I&M officials, relaying concerns of residents and encouraging them to expend all available resources to restore power. As crews work on restoring power to everyone, Mayor Tom Henry continued his commitment to keeping cooling centers open and working to remove trees from streets.

“While the Fourth of July is a holiday I know there are still many needs in the community.  Our staff will be providing emergency support, restoring traffic signals and providing safe places for residents to cool down,” said Mayor Henry.”

Cooling Centers

July 4:

• New Haven: New Haven United Methodist Church, 630 Lincoln Highway East 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.
• Jerry Fox Lifetime Support Academy at McMillen Park Golf Clubhouse 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
• Jennings Center, 1330 McColloch Street Noon to 5 p.m.
• The Community Center, 233 West Main Street, Noon to 6 p.m.

July 5:

• Jerry Fox Lifetime Sports Academy at the McMillen Park Golf Clubhouse, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
• The Community Center, 233 West Main Street, Noon to 6 p.m.
• Jennings Center, 1330 McCulloch St., Noon to 5 p.m.
• Public Safety Academy, 7602 Patriot Crossing, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Red Cross Shelter

The American Red Cross Shelter is also continuing to provide shelter for those who are unable to stay in their homes. Residents can also go to the shelter to take a shower or get a hot meal.  The shelter is open 24 hours and is located at the First Assembly of God Church, 1400 West Washington Center Rd., at Lima Road. Residents should enter door number 5.

Debris Clean Up

The city has posted a map of the curbside debris pick-up schedule online.

For immediate disposal, residents can take debris to one of four drop off sites:

·        Parking Lot at Swinney Park Pool

·        Parking Lot at the Tillman Road entrance of Tillman Park

·        Parking Lot at the Conklin Pavilion at Shoaff Park

·        City Biosolids Facility on Lake Avenue near Maplecrest Road (July 4 8a-6p)

Restoring Power

I&M cannot connect power to any home or business where there is damage to the service entrance. The service area is the electrical meter, the area between the meter and the home's electrical panel, or the location where I&M's cable connects to the home or business.

If you have damage to these areas you need to contact a qualified electrician to make necessary repairs. Once it's fixed, I&M can restore power.

I&M also said it will begin contacting life support dependent customers to check on their condition.

Over 200 additional workers from eastern Michigan, southern Illinois, Kentucky, West Virginia and Oklahoma arrived in Allen County by Tuesday morning.

Report!t photo gallery of storm damage

NewsChannel 15 followed some I&M crews around over the weekend as they were repairing power lines. Company officials said their first priority is to get power back on at hospitals and other emergency facilities. After that they did an assessment of where the damage and outages are so they could put together a plan of action.

"It doesn't make sense just to send crews out randomly to streets. We want to figure out where do we have the most people out, where can we pick up circuits that get the most people on. So developing that plan is critical and we have to have good information. That's why the assessment phase is so important," Sarah Bodner, the director of communications at Indiana Michigan Power, said.

For a map of outages, click here.

Crews are currently working in all areas of the I&M service territory.