Indiana Michigan Power is doing what it can to restore electric service to the thousands of customers who lost it during Sunday’s storms.

I&M spokesperson Schnee Doyle tells us that storm slammed South Bend and Buchanan the hardest.

“At the peak of the storm, we had approximately 60,000 customers were without power,” Doyle said. “Since then, we have restored a number of customers and we expect to have the majority of customers who are able to receive power restored by 11 p.m. Tuesday, April 1.”

However, Doyle says I&M as of late Monday afternoon was still assessing the damage, so some customers in remote areas could have to wait longer. Also, she noted crews may have to cut power to some small areas for safety reasons while working to fix broken infrastructure.

So, how bad was the damage?

“Right now, our workers have discovered more than 500 individual spans of downed power lines, nearly 200 broken or damaged power poles, along with numerous downed trees.”

By late afternoon Monday, I&M still had about 19,000 Indiana customers and 16,000 Southwest Michigan customers without service.

Doyle says I&M has mobilized a workforce of more than 2,500 to get the power back on. They include I&M employees, contractors, and mutual aid crews from other companies. She did warn everyone, though, that more storms are expected Wednesday, and they could be even worse.