Here’s how Mid-Michigan emergency services prepared for Thursday’s storms

CHARLOTTE, Mich. (News 10) - Emergency management services are preparing for severe weather as storms batter mid-Michigan and utility crews work to restore power.

Eaton County Central Dispatch has increased staffing and opened communication lines to coordinate response efforts. Consumers Energy has made similar moves.

When severe weather approaches, central dispatch and emergency management prepare a coordinated response. Kelley Flynn, director of Eaton County Central Dispatch, helps lead those teams.

“We have an extra dispatcher, but then my responsibility, as the director, and the deputy director’s responsibility is we keep an eye on the weather and the calls coming in,” Flynn said.

Flynn said when the weather worsens, she and the deputy director can call in more people to help.

“We have 8 CAD stations, and that is 8 people that can take 911 calls, enter them into our system, and that would be dispatched out to police, fire, EMS,” Flynn said.

Those extra workers can also contact towing companies, utilities and whoever else is needed.

Consumers Energy also has extra crews in place. Greg Salisbury said the utility has mobile command centers in Plainwell and Ionia, both areas that have been hit multiple times with severe weather.

“And this is really important in helping our contractor crews in particular move quickly through restoration without having to drive large distances to access material at our normal headquarters locations,” Salisbury said.

Flynn said communication is vital in a situation like this. Dispatch can send out warnings to the public, and the community has multiple ways to receive them.

“Whether it be for the TV [or] radio station. We also have an alerting system for Eaton County, and we can push out emergency alerts that way,” Flynn said.

Salisbury said there is a set of priorities Consumers Energy follows when choosing where to restore power. Hospitals, water treatment stations, police, and fire departments are some of the locations that get helped first.

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