Detroit has been undergoing financial woes, a crumbling infrastructure and other issues plaguing what was once a thriving American city. On Tuesday, further evidence of Detroit’s downturn took place after a power grid failure left much of the city in the dark for hours.
The Detroit News has been covering the story regarding the DTE Energy powerful failure, with officials from the company acknowledging that the power grid has been neglected for several years. Impacted severely by the city’s money problems, servicing the grid has been a hampered process.
The power went down around 10:30 a.m. On Tuesday (Dec. 2), stranding people in elevators and disrupting hospital operations among other dangerous occurrences. Most hospitals and the city jail ran on generator power and 911 service in the city remained operational. The power was finally restored around 5:30 p.m. that evening.
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A major cable failed at the Mistersky Power Generation Plant on Detroit’s riverfront about 9:30 a.m. During the Public Lighting Department’s efforts to reconnect customers through another circuit, a breaker on the new circuit failed, triggering the shutdown around 10:30 a.m. that resulted in the loss of power to all customers on the city’s grid.
Mayor Mike Duggan promises that the city will do it’s best to prevent further failure.
“There’s been so much neglected for so long,” Duggan said. “We’ve got a lot to do.”
The city said that $200 million, four-year upgrade to the archaic power system will be the remedy needed to stave off further power interruptions. The upgrade will include new utility poles, substations, cables and other necessary changes.
Power was also lost at landmarks such as the Joe Louis Arena, the Detroit Institute of Arts, and portions of Wayne State University. Several homes and buildings were also evacuated.
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Photo: Inform
