Large hail, some 'baseball sized,' batters southeast Michigan; 100,000 lose power
Severe thunderstorms ripped through southeast Michigan on Thursday, bombing the state with giant ice balls so large that some people indoors said it sounded like "bowling on the roof." The hail smashed car windows, sunroofs, and dented everything it touched.
Worse, it hurt people.
By early Thursday evening, Hope Urgent Care of Davison, a clinic in Genesee County that treats non-life-threatening medical concerns, told the Free Press that there were injuries from the hail "everywhere" and that there were "a ton of people coming in for care due to the hail right now."
"It sounded like a war zone," Venessa Ramage, a Davison resident, remarked. She said her two boys, 8 months and 2 years, were both frightened and perplexed by the hail. "They were scared. It looked like it was snowing and it was 80 degrees out."
Her 2-year-old son, Sterling, added his thoughts: "Holy guacamole!"
Todd Wenzel Buick GMC of Davison sustained hail damage to all the new vehicles on the lot. Fortunately, Drew Smith, the eastern Michigan regional director for Todd Wenzel, said no one at the dealership was injured.
By about 6 p.m., more than 100,000 people were without power, with DTE and Consumers Energy, the state's two largest utilities scrambling to reconnect lines. It is likely that more power outages would be reported before nightfall.
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Winds of up to 60 mph, hail rivaling the size of tennis balls in Genesee, Lapeer and northern Oakland counties, and pingpong-size hail in northern Wayne, along with frequent lightning and heavy rain were reported, according to the National Weather Service in White Lake.
The three-day Ann Arbor Art Fairs, which opened Thursday and are expected to draw nearly half a million attendees, moved indoors for about an hour as hail pummeled the area and outdoor warning sirens sounded, fair spokeswoman Jennifer Foster said.
There did not appear to be injuries, she added, and the event is set to reopen Friday.
By about 3 p.m. the storm moved eastward, and by 5 p.m., most of the severe weather warnings were lifted.
The Great Lakes Water Authority, which tries to give residents early weather alerts, warned that homes in low-lying areas should prepare for flooding, with total rainfall predictions of a half to three-quarters of an inch during the next three days.
Katie Eich, the office manager with the Davison police, described the hail as "baseball-sized" and said that the sunroof and window of her new 2024 Chevy Trax are smashed, with dents all over the vehicle's body. Because of the glass, she couldn't drive it. Someone from the body shop, she said, was coming to get it.
"The hail is still on the grass right now," Eich said. "I've never seen anything like it. It sounded like World War III."
Julie Pray, the treasurer for the city of Davison, said the hail came down for about 15 minutes, damaging car rooftops and hoods, and even smashing some windshields. Pray described the sound of the hail as though someone was "bowling on the roof."
The forecast for southeast Michigan for Friday is expected to remain mostly dry, with highs ranging from the upper 70s to low 80s. However, there is a slight possibility of isolated showers Saturday afternoon and an even greater likelihood of scattered showers Sunday afternoon.
Contact Nour Rahal: nrahal@freepress.com. Free Press photographer Ryan Garza contributed.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Large hail, severe thunderstorms batter metro Detroit
