Thousands of customers remained without power Saturday after thunderstorms swept across Michigan's Lower Peninsula earlier this week and some farmers worked to determine how badly their crops have been damaged by the weather.
Consumers Energy said about 16,000 homes and businesses that it serves were without electricity Saturday afternoon. It said about 210,000 of its customers lost power in storms that began Wednesday afternoon.
The subsidiary of CMS Energy Corp. expects to restore power to most customers by the end of the day Saturday, but says parts of Calhoun, Kalamazoo and Kent counties might not have service until Sunday.
Most of DTE Energy Co.'s customers that lost power in the storms had service back by Friday.
Thunderstorms with heavy rain, hail, strong winds and frequent lightning moved through the state Wednesday and Thursday.
At Joe Klein's farm, wind snapped the trunks of 50 Honeycrisp apple trees, and his Gala and Ginger Gold apples were hit hard. He estimated that about 20 percent of his crop was damaged in the storms.
"It's definitely going to affect the bottom line," Klein told The Grand Rapids Press.
The damaging weather follows severe storms in mid-June that caused extensive flooding and wind damage in a 12-county area.
Gov. Jennifer Granholm has asked President Bush to declare a major disaster in that series of storms.
Lyle LeCronier tells The Midland Daily News he considers himself fortunate his Freeland farm wasn't hit harder last month.
"The heavy rains, we're fortunate they've been going to the north of us and the south of us," he said. LeCronier farms corn, soybeans, wheat and alfalfa. "We've had a lot of rain, but it's been nice, easy rain."
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