BRANCH COUNTY, MI (WTVB) – A stormy summer continued on Tuesday morning as a series of severe thunderstorms led to almost 3,000 Consumer’s Energy customers losing their power in the southwestern part of Branch County.
A funnel cloud that was spotted at 9:41 a.m. at the intersection of South Angola and East Copeland Roads near Kinderhook led to the National Weather Service issuing a Tornado Warning for portions of Branch, Steuben, Hillsdale and Williams Counties.
The same line of storms caused severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings to be issued earlier in the morning for portions of St. Joseph and Branch Counties.
The storms produced heavy rain, lightning and strong winds. Just over an inch of rain was measured at the Branch County Memorial Airport between 9:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. while the M.S.U. Extension Service weather station at the Bloom Dairy Farm measured one-point-three inches of rain during that same time. That location has now measured almost nine inches of rain since July 8.
Consumer’s Energy stated on its web site that power was expected to be restored by late afternoon.
Branch County Clerk Terry Kubasiak says the storms and power outages are not affecting voting during Tuesday’s Primary as they have back up plans in place such as batteries and generators.
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