DETROIT (WXYZ) — As the rain pours in Southeast Michigan, Southfield resident Ed Fournier invited us inside his "man cave," built for exactly this.
"We built this because we knew we wanted to stay here, we love the area, but we didn’t know how much we were going to lose power," said Fournier.
According to him, their Southfield home loses power "a couple times a year, maybe four, maybe five times for sure."
Inside his man cave, Fournier has a wood burner, a generator, extension cables, and more supplies to stay safe during a power outage.
He told us that Wednesday's storm has created a double whammy for his family.
While they wait to see if they'll lose power in Southfield, their home in Mancelona, up north, has already been hit by Sunday's ice storms.
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In fact, Fournier spent the beginning of his week in Mancelona, securing their home there, before coming back to Southfield for this storm.
"I don’t think people really realize how bad it is up there," said Fournier. "And that people really need a lot of help up there."
Amid the severe weather DTE told 7 News Detroit that they are preparing.
On Wednesday afternoon, our team was invited inside their Systems Operation Center.
There, DTE Vice President of Distribution Operation Brian Calka said, "This is an overlay of the electric grid, it shows all of our substations."
Calka said that inside the center, DTE teams can operate 24 hours a day, remotely addressing homes and businesses that may lose power.
He also said that they have additional crews traveling to Michigan to help: "We have 2,000 line workers that are here on our property right now, we are augmenting them with over 600 line workers that are coming from out of state."
According to Calka, this storm is especially worrisome to them because rain preceding high winds increases the likelihood of trees falling.
He asks all concerned residents to contact them at outage.dteenergy.com.
As we wait to see how many will be affected, residents like Fournier continue to prepare.
"You get your generator, you get your firewood, you get your supplies, you have everything ready," said Fournier. "That way when that time comes, you don’t have to worry about yourself, you can help your neighbor out, and that’s most important."
