Flash Flood Watch Overnight
SOUTHFIELD (WWJ) - A Flash Flood Watch is in effect from 8 p.m., Thursday, through Friday morning.
Thunderstorms packing heavy rains left some roadways under water, forced families from their homes and prompted flash flood warnings across much of southern Michigan.
The rain overnight made for a tricky commute in Metro Detroit, with flooded out roads and power outages, and AccuWeather Meterologist Dave Bowers says more heavy rain is on the way.
"I think most everybody will see a couple of rounds of showers ... and heavy thunderstorms, so we gotta watch for some localized flooding from some of these events," Bowers said.
DTE Energy said about 13,000 homes and businesses were in the dark as of 2:30 p.m. Thursday.
Metro Beach will be closed, Thursday, due to a power outage.
High water is being found along westbound I-96 at the ramp to the Southfield Freeway. While the Lodge is reporting flooding between Wyoming and Livernois. Some areas around Ann Arbor are facing the possibility of treading through a half-foot of rainfall from these overnight downpours. Officials there said secondary roads have been seeing most of the flooding.
Eastbound I-94 was closed near Chalmers, due to flooding, but has since reopened.
M-DOT spokesman Rob Morosi told WWJ lightning strikes stalled the pumps that remove water from the freeway, but that wasn't all.
"We also had some reports of some lightening strikes, which affected some of our overhead message boards, which, undfortunatly, could have allerted a lot of drivers approacthing that area," he said.
The National Weather Service says storms brought 2 to 4 inches of rain in places within a few hours, and up to 5 inches was forecast in places.
AccuWeather Meteorologist Dean Devore said among the hard-hit areas were Oakland County; Ferndale got 2.7 inches of rain; Commerce, 3.65 inches; Ortonville, 5.13. Parts of Wayne County got 2 to 3 inches.
Fire officials in Lansing rescued at least 13 people from homes using boats after flooding hit early Thursday. (More on this, here). General Motors Lansing Delta Township plant was shut down for a few hours Thursday morning due to heavy rains.
AccuWeather says we can expect to see showers and thunderstorms including some heavy downpours continue throughout the morning hours, with some storm activity expected during the evening. An additional one to three inches of rain is expected for Metro Detroit overnight.
Here's the forecast from the WWJ Weather Team:
Thursday - Mostly cloudy. Occasional showers with an isolated thunderstorm through 2 PM...then a chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs 85 to 89. Southwest winds 5 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 90 percent.
Thursday Night - Showers and thunderstorms likely. Lows 72 to 76. Southwest winds 5 to 10 mph...turning to west. Chance of rain 60 percent.
Friday - Partly sunny. A chance of showers and thunderstorms through early afternoon. Highs 88 to 92...with a heat index around 95. West winds 5 to 10 mph...turning to northwest. Chance of rain 30 percent.
Friday Night - Partly cloudy. Lows 67 to 71. West winds 5 to 10 mph.
Saturday - Partly sunny. Highs 88 to 92...with a heat index around 95. Northeast winds 5 to 10 mph...becoming light and variable. Lows 68 to 72.
Sunday - Mostly sunny. Highs 87 to 91. A slight chance of showers and thunderstorms in the evening. Lows 69 to 73. Chance of rain 20 percent.
Keep it tuned to WWJ Newsradio 950 for the latest forecast during Traffic and Weather on the 8's. To visit our weather page, click here
