Storm dumps almost 6 inches of rain in 12 hours, topples trees, floods roadways
Overnight storms dumped almost six inches of rain on Washtenaw County in a 12-hour period, toppled trees, knocked out power and flooded roadways with as much as a foot of water.
About 6,000 Washtenaw County homes were without power this morning, including about 1,000 in Ann Arbor, a DTE spokesperson said. Power is expected to be restored by midnight tonight.
The National Weather Service issued a flood warning at 10:11 a.m. for Mill Creek in Dexter. The creek is running at 10.4 feet deep; flood stage is 12 feet.
A flood warning issued at 5:50 a.m. remains in effect of Washtenaw County until 5:30 p.m. The warning replaced a flash flood warning issued overnight.
Around Washtenaw County, flooded areas in roadways and yards look to be receding this morning, Washtenaw County officials said.
There was at least one major problem area as of 10 a.m. today in Lodi and Pittsfield townships, officials said.
Maple Road is closed between Textile and Ellsworth roads due to flooding, said Dennis Wojcik, chief deputy water resources commissioner.
Portions of numerous Ypsilanti and Ypsilanti Township roadways were under water last night, especially Harris Road, Wojcik said, but bone dry weather of recent week s prevented flooding in some of the county’s traditional hot spots.
A 10-person crew from the Washtenaw County Drain Commission has been working since 2 a.m. to clear drains from debris and allow the water to recede from streets, Wojcik said.
Washtenaw County Road Commission crews received reports of trees that had fallen on or near at least seven different roadway spots, according to Steve Wilson, a communications operator for Washtenaw Central Dispatch. Roadways flooded in at least 17 different areas, including southbound US 23 to westbound I-94, Wilson said.
Do you have pictures of storm damage from last night? Send them to julianakeeping@annarbor.com. Please include location information.
Did the storms impact your commute this morning? Leave us a comment below.
Juliana Keeping covers general assignment and health and the environment for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at julianakeeping@annarbor.com or 734-623-2528. Follow Juliana Keeping on Twitter
Comments
Fred Crothers
Thu, Jul 28, 2011 : 11:08 p.m.
Wouldn't it be advisable to go out and clear the drains BEFORE the storms hit? I travel many a county as well as Ypsi city black top roads and see many of the drains blocked. Weeds growing up from the drains don't help any either! I know the old cry of man power! But with impending storms I think it rather important to clear the drains so that they can perform like they were intended!
Doug
Thu, Jul 28, 2011 : 10:59 p.m.
Blame Bush!
f4phantomII
Thu, Jul 28, 2011 : 8:57 p.m.
Oh, did it rain last night? I was asleep.
jns131
Thu, Jul 28, 2011 : 9:45 p.m.
Must of had an eye mask too. That lightening was phenomenal. What a great storm at 2am that was. Is there more?
brett williams
Thu, Jul 28, 2011 : 8:31 p.m.
yay i called in one of those debris in the road reports! :D i feel accomplished
ChelseaBob
Thu, Jul 28, 2011 : 8:15 p.m.
Where are the knuckleheads that always blame Snyder or Granholm for everything? They are missing the boat here (no pun intended)
Tru2Blu76
Fri, Jul 29, 2011 : 12:55 a.m.
Since weather extremes are a sign of global warming and $nyder is in the category of Republican "deniers": of course we can blame him and his right wing- "protect profits at any cost"- fanatic pals. People who disagree with you on this (and I'm sure on many other points) are not intimidated by your name-calling presumptuousness. We - after all - have Science and Honesty on our side.
dconkey
Thu, Jul 28, 2011 : 8:14 p.m.
Good thing it was not all snow.
jns131
Thu, Jul 28, 2011 : 9:44 p.m.
Montana starts it annual snow fall at the end of August if you need snow somewhere in the US.
Joe Kidd
Thu, Jul 28, 2011 : 6:41 p.m.
Aw shucks, no pictures. Hope nobody had a lot of damage. We really needed that rainfall.
Dan Moerman
Thu, Jul 28, 2011 : 6:40 p.m.
We got 2"+ in Superior Township.
Fat Bill
Thu, Jul 28, 2011 : 5:44 p.m.
At least we didn't have quite as many brain surgeons try to fly through a foot and a half of water this time. Hopefully, the next round will hold off until after the evening commute...
Milton Shift
Thu, Jul 28, 2011 : 4:32 p.m.
About time... we really needed the rain. Be careful when driving around in weather like that. It takes less than a foot of water to sweep a car away, so never try to drive through a current running across a road. Look out for the unexpected, too... I hurtled through a stoplight that was completely off (power failure, I guess) without even realizing it was there. Thank god no one was coming from the other direction.
81wolverine
Thu, Jul 28, 2011 : 4:06 p.m.
I couldn't believe how much rain came from this system. My rain gage in Lodi Township showed 4 1/2 inches this a.m., and it may have a leak. We certainly needed the rain, but as they say, "when it rains it pours".
63Townie
Thu, Jul 28, 2011 : 3:13 p.m.
The ramp from southbound US-23 to westbound 94 was underwater at 7:30 this morning. A couple of cars had spun out and were in the ditch.
Goober
Thu, Jul 28, 2011 : 3:03 p.m.
I can attest to this amount of rain. I emptied our rain gage this morning and it read 6.5".