Consumers Energy is getting out of state help as crews work around the clock to get Michigan back online.
The utility says of the 170,000 customers affected, 30,000 still do not have power.
Nearly 1,500 people were out of power in Oscoda County Monday. There were 1,100 out of power in the Grayling area alone. Most of them have been without power since Friday.
Jack and Jill Roark had to trim trees and plow snow just to get out of their home Friday.
"We had about 21 inches in our driveway," says Jack.
The Roarks were at the Oscoda County Library in Mio Monday.
"We're sitting in the dark at night, but our cabin has a lot of windows, so during the day it's fine," says Jill.
They were checking their e-mail and sending messages to family and friends letting them know they're safe.
They're also using the internet to see how others in the south have it much worse.
"We have some friends down there {in Kentucky} that we just found out that a major tornado hit so, that's what we're doing here," says Jill.
A caravan contracted crews from Consumers headed north on I-75 from Ohio Monday to Traverse City.
They join workers from Pennsylvania Monday to restore power.
Crews from Indiana and Illinois have been here since Saturday, 340 total.
The work hasn't been easy. Here, snow is mounded up to the mailboxes.
The locals tell NBC25 they really appreciate these out of state crews coming in trying to restore the power as soon as they can. They know they're working long days, 16-hour days at times. One person told NBC25 they have a relative who works in waitstaff and says that in one day alone, she made $180 in tips from out of state workers.
