Dexter, Chelsea Report Power Outages as Remnants of Hurricane Sandy Head West

UPDATED: As of 11:20 a.m. Tuesday, DTE has completed the power restoration at the WISD and Dexter Community Schools' email and website are now fully functional.

Gusting winds and rain whipped western Washtenaw County overnight into Tuesday morning, but the cities avoided major outages as the remnants of Hurricane Sandy spun westward.

A wind advisory remains in effect through 1 p.m. Tuesday and a hazardous weather outlook is in place through this evening for southeast Michigan, including Washtenaw County, according to the National Weather Service. A wind advisory means sustained winds of up to 30 miles per hour or gusts of 45 mph are expected, the forecasting agency says.

Dexter Community Schools reported that due to a powe outage at the Washtenaw Intermediate School District main office, Dexter's website and staff email are not functioning.

According to DTE's outage map, 650 customers in Chelsea were without power, while 165 customers in Dexter were without power on Tuesday. Ann Arbor.com reported that about 3,000 customers were without power in Washtenaw County.

DTE crews said they are hoping to have power restored in the Chelsea area by Wednesday, however that deadline could be extended if more outages are reported.

The company said Monday that it anticipated outages if southeast Michigan experienced wind gusts up to 50 miles per hour, as the National Weather Service forecast, as the far reaches of Hurricane Sandy lashed the area. The so-called "Frankenstorm" made landfall Monday on the East Coast, leaving massive destruction, millions without power and at least 16 deaths in its wake, according to cnn.com.

In Dexter and Chelsea, showers, gusting winds and high temperatures in the mid-40s are expected to continue through Halloween on Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service.