(WWJ) More than 250,000 homes and businesses in Southeast Michigan are without power, after gusty storms blew through the area Wednesday night and Thursday.
On Friday., with more rain coming down, DTE Energy said crews are working as fast as they can to restore service to at least 65% of customers by the end of the day.
Most cities in Metro Detroit are seeing their fair share of outages.
Some of the biggest include one in Northville, where around 1,800 customers are out in one area, from W. 10 Mile to 6 Mile Road.
It's also completely dark in some areas of Detroit's east side.
DTE said 3,400 storm response team members, including more than a thousand workers from out-of-state, were working to restore power.
DTE Director of Field Operations Jerry Tullio talked about some of the challenges.
"We saw winds of right around 70 miles per hour, slightly above 70 miles per hour," he said. "And then with the excessive rainfall — I believe we had rainfalls in an around two inches — that softens the ground and also makes the trees heavier.
"So, you have 70 mile per hour winds, heavier trees with a less sturdy foundation....It's a recipe for these trees to fall. We're seeing trees 50 to 100 feet away from our power lines that are that tall, falling and catching our power lines."
DTE Energy reminds to public to always stay at least 25 feet away from any downed power lines and anything they are in contact with. [Report a damaged power line here].
Isolated to scattered severe thunderstorms are forecast today across mainly the southern portions of southeast Michigan #miwx pic.twitter.com/W8dh1Smg8L
— NWS Detroit (@NWSDetroit) September 4, 2026
Meanwhile, the forecast for Friday won't help restoration crews.
The National Weather Service said isolated to scattered severe thunderstorms are forecast on Sept. 4 across mainly the southern portions of Southeast Michigan.
There's a Flood Advisory for parts of Metro Detroit, including Wayne and Washtenaw Counties, until 12:30 p.m. Friday.
Forecasters say another inch of rain is expected. Some areas that could experience minor flooding are Romulus, Taylor, Flat Rock, Livonia, Ann Arbor, Canton, Detroit and Northville.
Police say drivers should turn around if they see flooding. DO NOT try to driver through it.
