Streets Flooded, Thousands Without Power In Southeast Michigan
SOUTHFIELD (WWJ) - A severe storm system made its way across the state, Thursday, bringing heavy downpours that left Southeast Michigan streets under water.
DTE Energy spokesman Alejandro Bodipo-Memba said, at 7 p.m, there were 100,000 homes and businesses without power throughout the entire service territory. Many those outages were reported in the area of Pontiac, Waterford Township and Commerce Township. Another hard-hit area was near M-59 and U.S. 23, north of Brighton.
Bodipo-Memba said the number would likely rise — and they're asking for help from other power companies. He reminds residents to stay away from down power lines. [CHECK THE OUTAGE MAP]
The quick-moving storms that passed through the Washtenaw County area have left some damage. There were reports of downed trees and power lines from Ypsilanti to Augusta Township.
The county's Emergency Management Director Marc Breckenridge said three inches of rain fell in a 30 minute period.
In Ann Arbor, there was some severe flooding around the University of Michigan football stadium and near South Industrial Drive — where Dana Denha works at Community Television Network.
"It was only raining for about 30 minutes or so, but it was like the streets ... not all of them were completely flooded, but you were like hydro planing when you were driving on more of them," Denha said.
"Stadium (Blvd.), right by the U of M football stadium, was pretty bad," she added. "And then the road that we're actually located on ... was closed, and there was actually a yellow Mustang stuck in the water."
Steve Daugherty, at Jack's Hardware on Packard and State, said the water was creeping up on the sidewalks.
"All the cars that are driving by it looks actually like a boat going though more than a car," Daugherty said. "I was just saying to my boss earlier than I've never seen it this bad. I've never seen downtown Ann Arbor like this."
Daugherty said the basement is flooding, and his boss is worried the rest of the store will be affected.
Meantime, because of the flooding, several bus routes were detoured and multiple routes experienced delays.
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In Royal Oak, Bill Bahoora said flash floods poured water into his store — Italmoda Furniture — at Woodward Ave. and at 14 Mile Road.
"I thought the store was going to be under water in a few minutes; that's how fast it was coming through the door," Bahoora said.
Bahoora said it looked like a geyser at first, but the water quickly subsided.
WWJ Accuweather meteorologist Dave Bowers said much of Metro Detroit would affected by the Thursday's storms.
"It looks like most of Southeastern Michigan's going to be dealing with one or even two good, heavy, soaking thunderstorms here over the next several hours," Bowers said, speaking live on WWJ in the late afternoon.
"Watch for some ponding problems on some of the area roadways and poor visibility at times," he said.
Winds up to 65-miles-per-hour were reported.
Flood advisories are in effect north of Metro Detroit, in the Flint area. Other severe weather warnings for Metro Detroit communities have expired.
Keep it tuned to WWJ Newsradio 950 for the latest severe weather warnings and the most up-to-the-minute forecast, every 10 minutes on the 8s. Check the CBS Detroit weather page for live, local radar and the extended forecast anytime.
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