High winds, frequent lightning and heavy rains are moving through your area. As you watch the radar or view the conditions through your window, everything inside goes dark. Thanks to severe weather, your home and likely neighborhood are now without power. For homeowners, if this happens, simple actions can help you stay notified, alert and prepared until service is restored.
In addition to severe storms, there are other incidents that can cause a loss of service. From a vehicle accident that takes down electrical equipment to a tree limb on a line, crews will report the outage cause when available. Regardless of cause, being prepared ahead of time, especially during storm season, can help everyone at home stay safe when service is out. This includes having an emergency kit and plan ready. But what if the outage is more immediate?
Ver también: Reliable Power for Any Season or Situation
Immediately after a major storm, or other el estado, customers are asked to only contact Indiana Michigan Power (I&M) to report safety hazards, such as a downed power lined or equipment that is sparking. Often, our team is already aware of damage to our system, such as transmission lines and other equipment. Calls from customers help our crews focus resources to hazards that are not automatically picked up by our monitoring systems. In an emergency, such as a vehicle accident that took down a line, dial 9-1-1 and remain as far from the scene as possible.
When an outage, especially from a severe storm, occurs, our team provides frequent communication to keep customers safe and informed. This includes consistent updates on our social media platforms and information sent to local media outlets. Outage updates are also provided through text or email notifications, which can be customized upon signing up. This information will include when an outage has occurred and what the estimated time of restoration is, once crews have been able to access the damage.
Ver también: What is an ‘Estimated Time of Restoration’
Another way to track information for an outage is through I&M’s outage map. This platform provides a view of each I&M district and any current outages. Customers have the option to enter their address or zip code to get specific information nearest them. When outages are shown on the map, they are
broken down into outage size through colored icons. Once an outage is clicked on, additional information such as how many customers are impacted, the outage start time, estimated time of restoration and cause are provided.
Knowing where to find information is important. Whether outage maps or safety tips, use these resources to stay up to date in a potential outage situation: