Power outages prompt school closures in Waterford Township

Thousands of Waterford Township residents were without power Friday morning due to "equipment problems," resulting in school closures, according to Waterford School District officials and DTE Energy.

Scattered outages throughout the township, which is about 10 miles west of Auburn Hills, were shown on the utilities outage map, with some areas reporting more than 2,500 customers were without power near Elizabeth Lake between Elizabeth Lake and Cass Elizabeth roads.

The utility cited "equipment problems" as the cause, noting that customers were without power since May 30.

The outages prompted the closure of Haviland and Knudsen elementary schools on Thursday and extended closures Friday in the Waterford School District.

Temperatures around Metro Detroit are expected to reach about 90 degrees Friday, about 10 degrees warmer than normal for this time of year, according to the National Weather Service. Temps are expected to drop into the upper 80s Saturday with isolated to scattered showers, and upper 70s-lower 80s Sunday. The normal average June temperature in Detroit is 79.7 degrees.

An air quality alert is in effect for Genesee, Lapeer, Lenawee, Livingston, Oakland, Macomb, Monroe, Shiawassee, St. Clair, Washtenaw and Wayne counties, the weather service said. The alert means pollutants are expected to be unhealthy for sensitive groups, especially those with respiratory issues.

"Its not uncommon for various areas of the community (in Waterford) to have short-term outages at any given time," said Lt. Scott Good of Waterford Township Police Department.

Good said the health and safety of residents are always of concern, especially with the rise in temperatures and lacking access to air conditioned environments.

"Certainly, if there are extended outages, there are areas in the township (where residents can go), for example, our library is opened and conditioned; that would be a place where residents could come and spend time."

An estimated time for power restoration was immediately unavailable, the utility's website noted.

jaimery@detroitnews.com

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