Severe Storms Possible This Evening, Threat for Flooding This Evening and Overnight

(June 20, 2021 1:04 PM) Mother Nature may deliver an unwanted Father’s Day gift to parts of Michigan later today, bringing the potential for violent weather, including tornadoes, hail, high and/or straight line winds and heavy rain. 

The southwest, southern and eastern areas of the state are expected to be hardest hit by two rounds of expected storms, one late this afternoon/early evening and the other later during the overnight hours.

The National Weather Service is forecasting showers and thunderstorms this evening and overnight. Some of the storms could be severe and produce heavy rainfall.  The Weather Service is expecting two periods for strong to severe storms, the first being this evening from 6 pm till midnight, then a second period from midnight to 5 am. The greatest threat is damaging winds, hail and tornados.  Chance of precipitation is 90%. New rainfall amounts between 1 and 2 inches possible.

Consumers Energy, in an advisory this afternoon, offers preparation tips for potential severe weather:

• Charge all electronic devices. It’s advised to have an emergency battery or charging station available for use during an outage.
• Have an emergency kit that includes flashlights and extra batteries, water, canned food and blankets. Be prepared with enough medication, baby supplies and pet food if applicable. A battery-operated radio is also a good idea. 
• Unplug sensitive electronics like TVs, computers and printers. Turn power strips off. 

Consumers Energy also urges the public to keep these important storm safety tips in mind:

• Stay at least 25 feet away from downed wires, keep children or pets away, and report the issue by calling 9-1-1 and Consumers Energy at 800-477-5050. Consumers Energy crews are taking extra health and safety precautions because of the COVID-19 situation and asks the public to keep at least six feet of distance from its crews.
• Never use a generator in an attached garage, basement, enclosed patio or near any air intakes. Doing so could cause a generator to produce hazardous levels of carbon monoxide, an odorless, colorless and deadly gas.
• Be alert to crews working along roads. Drivers should slow down or stop and wait for oncoming traffic to clear so they safely can go past workers on roadsides.
• Consumers Energy will trim or remove trees interfering with electric restoration activities. Once safe to do so, clean-up of debris from tree trimming or removal during a storm emergency is the responsibility of individual property owners.

Customers can report an outage, check the status of an outage and get useful tips what to do after a storm by visiting www.ConsumersEnergy.com/OutageCenter. Customers can also sign up to get outage alerts and restoration times sent to a phone, email or text message, Text ‘REG’ to 232273 or visit www.ConsumersEnergy.com/alerts.