Over 150,000 Lose Power In Severe Storms
SOUTHFIELD (WWJ) - Fast-moving storms tore across Michigan Monday, leaving a trail of downed trees and power outages in their wake. About 70,000 DTE Energy customers were in the dark late Monday afternoon, about 60,000 of those in Wayne County.
DTE spokesman Scott Simons said the utility has a full complement of crews out working to restore power, but admits it's been a tough couple of weeks. Simons said they expected to have everyone back online sometime Wednesday.(Metro Detroit residents who see a down power line are asked to report it at 1-800-477-4747.)
There are power lines down and trees damaged throughout Dearborn, specifically along Telegraph and Ford roads and Outer Drive. Dearborn Police said a woman was injured when she was hit by a falling tree. It was unclear how badly she was hurt.
WWJ Newsradio 950 listener Cathy, surveying the damage near her neighborhood in Dearborn Heights, said one of the downed trees has turned into a nightmare for one of her neighbors.
"It looks like it went right into the front of the house. There was somebody out front just looking at it, and it's right into the house, right there on Beech Daly, just north of Cherry Hill," she said.
Cathy said the whole area is in "mass confusion with numerous trees down and split in half, and traffic signals out."
The storms have left numerous trees down in Taylor where DPW Water Department foreman Steve Toth said it's the worst damage he's seen in years.
"We'll get the emergency stuff and probably work up until dark getting that and getting everything cleared for driveways. And, probably, we'll be doing storm damage pickup and running brush at least all day tomorrow, probably the next day as well," Toth said,
In Canton, where one inch of rainfall was reported in a 15 minute span, WWJ listeners said trees had fallen on a house along Lilley Road north of Michigan Avenue in Canton. In addition, Sheldon road was closed at Palmer Road as a result of downed trees.
A wind gust of 71 miles per hour was reported in Ann Arbor. Further south, a 62 mph gust was reported in Milan.
Due to the weather, multiple flight delays were reported at Detroit Metro Airport. - Check your flight, here -
The storms that hit west Michigan early Monday morning left at least 119,00 homes and businesses without power. Consumers Energy said most of the outages were near Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo and Muskegon. Late Monday afternoon, 95,000 Consumers customers remained in the dark.
The Grand Rapids press reported a Cutlerville man died after he was knocked down by a falling tree.
Streets were flooded in Paw Paw, west of Kalamazoo. A roof was blown off a baseball dugout and cinderblocks were blown 30 feet in Van Buren County.
Earlier, Monday, WWJ spoke with Muskegon County Emergency Manager Daniel Stout who said they've gotten reports of 66 mile-per-hour winds and numerous downed trees and power lines across the county.
"There was a lot of frequent lightning from cloud-to-ground that I could see out of my office window here," said Stout.
Downed power lines closed part of U-S 31. No one was hurt.
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