Rain sweeps through downtown Ann Arbor Thursday afternoon.
Kyle Feldscher | AnnArbor.com
As thunderstorms moved across Washtenaw County Thursday afternoon, dispatchers reported wires and trees were down and reports of power outages were increasing.
DTE Energy spokeswoman Erica Donerson said there were 60,000 DTE customers without power in southeast Michigan. In Washtenaw County, there were 10,000 customers without power, according to a release from the company.
Washtenaw County dispatchers said there were trees down throughout the area and traffic lights were out due to power outages. Exact locations were not immediately available.
DTE Energy spokesman Alejandro Bodipo-Memba said there were confirmed power outages in Washtenaw County. However, he didn’t have a precise number as the situation was in flux.
A pine tree in Saline was no match for the winds that swept through Washtenaw County Thursday.
Courtesy of Chris G. Sellers
“It’s hard to say at this point, there are some outages,” he said. “The storm is passing through as we speak, we’re still getting calls in.”
The DTE outage map showed widespread outages in the Ann Arbor area as of 2:50 p.m. Thursday. The U.S. 23 corridor south of Geddes Road to Interstate 94 was particularly affected. The area east of State Street between Hill Street and Stadium Boulevard was also without power.
An outage was also reported in Pittsfield Township west of the Ann Arbor Municipal Airport.
TORNADO WATCH CANCELED FOR WASHTENAW COUNTY.FLOOD WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT THROUGH FRIDAY MORNING.
— washtenawalerts (@washtenawalerts) April 18, 2013
Rain in downtown Ann Arbor was nearly sideways and coming down in sheets just after 2 p.m. Thursday. The forecast called for storms during the afternoon and Washtenaw County was under a tornado watch until 6 p.m.
The tornado watch was cancelled two hours early.
Lightning and heavy rain were reported throughout the county, but it appeared that was the extent of the severe weather as of 2:30 p.m. Thursday.
Kyle Feldscher covers cops and courts for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at kylefeldscher@annarbor.com or you can follow him on Twitter.