Flash Flood Watch In Effect With Torrential Rainfall In The Forecast

DETROIT (WWJ) - A Flash Flood Watch has been issued, in effect until midnight, for all of Southeast Michigan.

After 2 p. m., Accuweather Meteorologist John Feerick said heavy rain and thunderstorms were lining up to the west of Ann Arbor, moving east across the state.

The National Weather Service is warning that Monday's strong storms will produce torrential rainfall. There's a Flood Warning for areas along the Lower Rouge River in Dearborn and Inkster.

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Feerick said it's all part of a large storm system moving across western lower Michigan that could dump as much as three inches of rain in some areas.

"These are slow-moving downpours, and this is the reason that you have these flood watches posted," Feerick said. "We've got a whole lot of rain over the last couple of days and we're only going to add to that...It's just going to cause a lot of street and highway flooding for sure."

With the heavy rain predicted to hit metro Detroit just in time for the busy afternoon commute, Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) spokeswoman Diane Cross said they're prepared.

"While there isn't much we can do about the weather, we do make sure — as part of our regular maintenance on what we do on the roadways... it's more than just patching or checking bridges, but it's also things like checking that the catch basins, which are the drains, that those are clear of debris," Cross said.

Southfield under I-96, and near Outer Drive in Allen Park,  I-94 near Michigan and I-75 and I-75 near Outer drive are usually vulnerable because they are lower lying areas.

Keep it tuned to WWJ Newsradio 950 for the latest storm information during traffic and weather, every 10 minutes on the 8s.

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