BRANCH COUNTY, MI (WTVB) – A series of severe storms which at one point prompted a tornado warning battered Branch County and the surrounding area Sunday night and early Monday morning leaving in its wake thousands of Consumers Energy customers without power as well as numerous downed trees and power lines.
The Ebyview Subdivision north of Coldwater was one area which was hard hit by a storm on Sunday night.
Two tornado warnings were issued for Branch County on Sunday night at 10:00 p.m. and 10:15 p.m..
The National Weather Service reported just before 10:00 p.m. a confirmed tornado was located over Coldwater and that it moving east at 35 mph. The warnings were issued after radar indicated a funnel cloud with rotation. A weather spotter also posted a picture of a wall cloud on the WOOD-TV web site.
The storm which prompted the warnings eventually moved out of the area and the warning was allowed to expire at 10:30 p.m..
The series of severe storms started at around 8:00 p.m. Sunday night and continued through the overnight hours. The Branch County Memorial Airport recorded a wind gust of 41 miles an hour.
The National Weather Service issued four severe thunderstorm warnings for Branch County at one time or another.
At least two houses have been hit by downed trees, one on Stringtown Road and another on Cheyenne Drive in Kinderhook Township.
No injuries have been reported in Branch County because of the storms.
As of 6:30 a.m. Monday morning, over 2,300 Consumers Energy customers in Branch County were without power. In addition, over 5,000 customers were out in Hillsdale County, about 1,200 customers were out in Calhoun County and 652 customers were out in St. Joseph County.
Over 21,000 Consumers Energy customers were out of power system wide.
A large amount of rain also fell with numerous reports of one to two inches. The Michigan State University Extension Service weather station at the Bloom Dairy Farm measured 1.7 inches of rain since 9:00 p.m. Sunday night.
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