(WWJ) Severe thunderstorms that caused cities to sound their emergency sirens, waking up many Metro Detroiters early Wednesday morning, left a lot of damage behind.
Several potential tornadoes are under investigation across the WWJ Newsradio 950 listening area.
In Melvindale, WWJ's Charlie Langton found downed powerlines, a broken power pole blocking a parking lot, big trees down, and lots of flooding.
"And a Subway store, well, it's completely gone," Langton reported. "Allen Road, Outer Drive, Dix — those are the main areas hit in Melvindale."
A tornado was not immediately confirmed in Melvindale, but the National Weather Service will be investigating there and in other locations on Wednesday.
The NWS said four general areas in Lower Michigan are being looked for possible tornadoes:
- Ann Arbor into the Downriver area,
- Shiawassee County, east of Lansing,
- Lenawee County into Monroe County,
- and Saginaw
Students in dorms at Saginaw Valley State University were told to go to the first floor of their buildings early in the morning.
Crews work to repair damaged power lines in Lincoln Park outside of The Lincoln Manor Banquet Hall, which also sustained damage.
Jon Hewett/WWJ
In Ann Arbor, where tornado sirens sounded overnight, WWJ's Luke Sloan reported University of Michigan students woke up to major damage on their campus.
Trees were down over the road, some having fallen into homes, and there are a lot of downed powerlines.
"And the big story as well: Yost Ice Arena, the iconic home of the Michigan Wolverines hockey program, part of the roof torn off and twister around trees like tinfoil."
"And it's really drawn the interest of University of Michigan students that have been curious this morning; waking up, going outside and looking around in their pajamas," Sloan said.
No injuries have been reported, although there's quite of bit of damage to what locals said are mainly rental properties.
Meanwhile, there were reports of a couple more tornadoes in West Michigan.
The Allegan County emergency manager said what is believed to be a tornado moved through the county and there are more than 11,000 power outages in the county.
The National Weather Service says a tornado was observed on the ground in southern Montcalm County in central Michigan.
There were more than 60,000 power outages reported by Consumers Energy on the west side of the state.
Looking ahead, NWS said there was a lot more rain and some more thunderstorms on the way. Most of the state is under some sort of flood advisory, through Thursday.
RELATED: Flood Watch for all of Southeast Michigan through Thursday night, more storms on the way
