This makes me wonder if we are ever going to bury our power lines? Here we are in the year 2012 and we are so technologically advanced yet our electrical wires are still strung on tree poles. In an age where so many are so dependent on electricity, it would make sense to bury the wires to keep them from getting knocked down to prevent such power outages.

Many new subdivisions do bury the electrical lines. Unfortunately the cost to retrofit existing lines underground is too prohibitive. I recall reading it costs anywhere from $5 to $15 million per mile to bury existing lines, and that cost would of course be passed on to the consumer.

they still have to come up above ground somewhere. We bought a generator after the big east coast power outage years ago --- best $600 we ever spent. We have used it at least a dozen times since then. 5550 watts (6500 surge) powers everything in the house except the a/c. We have a 220 hookup and it runs for about 12-14 hours on a full tank (5 gallons).

A crew from Reed City is just about to power up a major section of western Oakland Township. Some critical equipment right at the end of my driveway was damaged last night.

So Kroger and the subs fed from the Gunn Road feeder lines will soon be powered up.

Thanks so much to all the guys who restored our power! I was so impressed at how quickly they put up a new telephone pole in front of our house on Snell and restrung the wires. The tree guys too! SO many trees down. That had to have been a Tornado at Orion and Gunn. There are so many trees ripped right out of the ground. Unbelievable!