Weather security

Wind knocks out power to 1 million customers in Michigan

Some one million Michigan homes and other buildings were without power on Thursday after high winds caused what is believed to be the biggest outage in the state's history, utility companies said.

Wind gusts of more than 60 miles per hour on Wednesday downed at least 3,000 power lines across the state, which has a population of about 10 million people, Detroit-based DTE Energy Co said.

"This is the largest weather event in DTE history," the company said in a statement.

High winds, and soft soil - caused by unusually warm winter weather and heavy rainfall - uprooted trees and brought down power lines and poles, DTE said.