Severe Thunderstorms Hit Michigan & Ohio
Heavy thunderstorms packing winds of around 60 miles per hour and coin-sized hail blasted portions of Michigan and Ohio late Friday, knocking down trees, powerlines and leaving thousands of people in the dark. In southeastern Michigan during the peak of the storms, nearly 150,000 DTE Energy customers were without power.
Many reports of downed trees, hail and strong gusting winds were pouring into the National Weather Service’s offices in southern Michigan Friday. In Troy, a city located on the outskirts of Detroit, public work crews were prioritizing storm damage removal Saturday morning as there was widespread damage done by the severe weather. The first problems that were handled were fully blocked roadways as there were many roads completely inaccessible due to entire trees laying on them.
The severe weather collapsed a wall at Ursuline College in Pepper Pike, Ohio and caused flooding throughout Lake County. The storms ripped down a huge wall at the gym at Ursuline College, causing extensive damage and prompting officials to close the campus at least through Monday. Several roadways in the city of Mentor, Ohio were closed down due to flash flooding. Many of Mentor’s residential streets were flooded and closed to traffic. Officials in that city urged residents not to travel on city streets and told those who have to travel to do so using extreme caution.
In addition to numerous trees being knocked down all across southern lower Michigan, in that state’s upper peninsula, there also were many reports of downed trees and power poles. In L’Anse, strong gusting winds blew a roof off a barn and downed numerous power poles and lines that resulted in thousands of people being left without power there. The wind gusts in the upper peninsula were clocked at just over 60 miles per hour early Saturday morning which resulted in many homeowners having to spend their Saturday cleaning up tree limbs from yards.
People living in the Midwest are being told by the National Weather Service to expect more severe weather this week. There are more thunderstorms being forecast for the new week that may bring with them heavy downpours of rain to result in flash flooding. Embedded in the trough of moist warm air that’s taking over the eastern third of the country will be pulses of energy that will help spark showers and thunderstorms Monday through Wednesday in the Great Lakes, Mississippi Valley, Ohio Valley and the Northeast.