Several thousand Livingston County DTE customers remain without power due to an early Thursday morning storm that rolled through the area.
They are among approximately 43,000 customers without power across DTE’s service area. Most of the outages occurred between 2 and 3 a.m. and have yet to be provided with a restoration estimate.
Cleary University in Genoa Township reported that it’s entire campus was without power as of 7:30 a.m. and advised staff not to come in until further notice, although power was later restored around 2 p.m. Classes for the university don’t begin until next week.
The Brighton Area Fire Authority said they “were very busy over night” and asked residents to plan on some extra travel time Thursday morning due to flooded roadways and trees over the road. They also reported responding to multiple incidents in Brighton Township including two structure fires, a gas leak, wire and tree hazards. However, only one minor injury was reported.
Livingston County Central Dispatch reported that Byron Road between Marr and Barron Road in Howell Township had been closed for down power lines and advised motorists to avoid the area and seek alternate routes. However, it was reported to have been reopened by 6:30 a.m.
Meanwhile, the Fowlerville Fire Department says that as of 7:15 a.m. Sharpe Road between Cemetery Road and Fowlerville High School is closed and is not passable due to a large diameter tree down across the road that is also “FULL of angry Hornets!” It says crews are on the scene there waiting for road commission to help clear the tree.
“FAFD is out on multiple other calls. If you see red flashing lights blocking a roadway, please do not attempt to go around them, as they are blocking the roads for a reason. That reason is for your safety and the residence around that area.”
The National Weather Service has issued a Flood Warning that is in effect until 3:45 p.m. for Livingston, Monroe, Oakland, Washtenaw and Wayne counties.
“Between 2 and 6 inches of rain have fallen. – Additional rainfall amounts up to 1 inch are possible in parts of the warned area this morning,” said the NWS bulletin. “Some locations that will experience flooding include… Ann Arbor, Livonia, Southfield, Taylor, Novi, Romulus, Monroe, Ypsilanti, Hartland, Flat Rock, Howell, Saline, Brighton, Milford, Milan, Dexter, Dundee, Fowlerville, Pinckney and Carleton.”
A heat advisory is also in effect until 8 p.m. for Livingston, Oakland and Macomb counties, with heat index values expected up to 102 degrees.
A cooling center has been set up at The Salvation Army, 503 Lake St. in Howell from 9 a.m.-12 p.m. and 1-4 p.m. both Thursday and Friday.
DTE says that the extreme overnight weather caused downed power lines and outages throughout their service territory and ask residents to alert their Storm Response Teams to outages and downed power lines at outage.dteenergy.com, through the DTE Energy Mobile app or by calling 800-477-4747.
