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UPDATE, as of 11:30 a.m. Tuesday: Power remains out for roughly 7,000 MEC customers. No estimated restoration times are available.

UPDATE, as of 11 a.m. Tuesday: I&M crews have restored nearly 3,000 customers after last night’s severe storms caused widespread outages. Approximately 37,800 customers are without power as of 11 a.m., down from a peak of 40,700.

NILES — Thousands of customers remain without power following heavy rain and winds that blew through southwest Michigan and northern Indiana Monday night.

Following the storm, Indiana Michigan Power reported that as of 8 a.m. Tuesday, crews are working across northeast Indiana and southwest Michigan to restore power to nearly 40,000 customers who lost service as a result of the powerful storm that carried winds up to 98 mph overnight.

“This morning, we are marshaling additional resources to help with restoration,” the IM Power statement reads. “More than 100 restoration workers are already in transit to our area, and several hundred more are expected.”

Midwest Energy and Communications reported that as of 4:30 a.m. Tuesday, nearly 7,000 customers remained without power in Fabius, Howard, Hamilton, Porter, Bangor, Volinia, Newberg, Marcellus, Penn, Decatur, Van Buren, Milton, Constantine, Portage, Keeler, Florence, and Flowerfield townships.  Fallen trees, downed lines, and broken poles have caused significant damage, and more than 80 separate outages have been confirmed, according to MEC.

“It’s going to be a long restoration effort, and we don’t have any idea of restoration times yet,” the MEC statement reads. “We are still assessing damage and responding to 911 calls for lines down. Please be careful out there.”

MEC asks residents to stay at least 50 feet away from a downed line and to call (800) 492-5989 to report it.