COLDWATER, MI (WTVB) – Thunderstorms that rumbled through lower Michigan late Thursday night and early Friday morning has left nearly 150,000 Consumers Energy customers without power and the utility says it maybe late Sunday night before everyone is back on line.
The storms featured winds approaching 55 miles an hour, heavy rain and lightning.
As of 7:00 a.m., 44 Consumers Energy customers were out in Branch County. It was much worse in Calhoun County where power outages affected nearly 3,300 customers including almost 2,100 customers in Albion.
In addition, almost 350 customers were out in Hillsdale County and another 129 were out in St. Joseph County.
Branch along with Calhoun and St. Joseph Counties were under a severe thunderstorm warning early Friday morning.
A dramatic shift in the wind just before 5:00 a.m. took place at the Branch County Memorial Airport as it went from southwest at six MPH to the northwest at 26 MPH with gusts to 31 MPH.
National Weather Service observers in Centreville and northeast of Moscow in Hillsdale County reported wind gusts of 50 MPH.
The temperature has dropped from 73 degrees at 4:54 a.m. to 66 at 5:15 a.m. as recorded at the Branch County Memorial Airport.
