Severe thunderstorms down trees, knock out power to thousands across parts of Great Lakes region

Storms accompanied by deep, booming thunder, lightning displays and powerful winds swept through parts of Wisconsin, Illinois, northern Indiana and Michigan overnight — leaving scores of trees down and thousands of homes without power.

The National Weather Service issued tornado warnings and watches across the region Thursday night into early Friday morning. Two tornadoes reportedly touched down in central Wisconsin. No injuries have been reported.

Surveys were underway Friday of damage in Michigan to determine if any tornadoes touched down there, according to Steven Freitag, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in White Lake Township, northwest of Detroit.

The storms were fueled by temperatures in the lower 80s that stretched from Illinois into Michigan and were activated by a cold front that pushed through, Freitag said.

A wind gust of 76 mph (122 kph) was reported Thursday night in Battle Creek, Michigan, while Grand Haven, Michigan, recorded a gust of 68 mph (109 kph).

The storms lost their intensity as they moved further east, Freitag added.

Indiana Michigan Power, which services parts of northern Indiana and southwestern Michigan, reported Friday morning that more than 31,000 homes and businesses were without electricity. That includes about 90% of the utility’s southwestern Michigan customers.

The storms initially knocked out power to 35,000 customers. Damage included downed trees and power lines, and broken utility poles.

About 216,000 Consumers Energy customers in Michigan also lost power.

ComEd crews in Illinois were working Friday to restore power to about 73,000 of more 155,000 customers who initially lost service Thursday, the utility said. It said Chicago, Joliet and Crestwood were among the hardest hit areas.

The threat of severe weather in Chicago delayed a Beyonce concert by about two hours Thursday at Soldier Field.

Freitag said the main cold front was still moving east Friday. Severe thunderstorms were expected to continue through parts of Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Missouri, southern Illinois and southern Indiana, the weather service said.

Those storms could produce some hurricane-force winds, tornadoes and baseball-size hail.

“This will include intense supercells associated with tornadoes, large hail and wind damage,” the weather service said on its Storm Prediction Center webpage. “Several strong tornadoes are expected, and a long-track high-end tornado will be possible.”