Residents of Newberry, Michigan, a village in the state’s Upper Peninsula known as the "Moose Capital of Michigan," have been without power since yesterday morning. The outage, caused by a failure at the local power substation, began around 7:50 a.m. Officials have indicated that power may take between 24 and 48 hours to be restored, according to a report by MLive.
In light of the outage, the high temperatures forecasted for the area are a cause for concern, with daytime highs expected to reach 86 degrees, as mentioned in a Detroit Free Press article. The local government has taken steps to alleviate some of the strain on residents by providing cooling and electronics charging stations. The Newberry Area Ministerial Association has stepped in to help, setting up a cooling station at the Living Water Assembly of God Church until last night.
The village's situation is further complicated by the decommissioning of its last working backup generator in 2022 after it failed and was deemed irreparable. Additionally, the substation responsible for distributing power to the grid is also nonfunctional. As the Village of Newberry explained in a Facebook post shared by sooleader and cited by MLive, "Without a substation, power cannot be sent out to the power grid." In response, crews have been working to install a portable power system and restore the water system generator in an effort to stabilize daily life for residents.
As efforts continue to restore power, the Village of Newberry has been actively updating residents via social media. They have already managed to temporarily fix the water system by using a backup generator from Pentland Township. However, further efforts to fully resolve the power outage are still ongoing. "The first of three trailers hauling the equipment is in the process of crossing the bridge now. We will update as equipment arrives and things progress," as noted by MLive.
In the meantime, the village has advised residents to prepare for several days without power and to use water sparingly. Electric Superintendent Dan Kucinskas has been managing response efforts since the outage was reported, coordinating temporary solutions until power can be fully restored.
