Mich., Ohio storms bring flooding, power outages

Severe thunderstorms swept across parts of Michigan, flooding streets and cutting power to hundreds of thousands of residents.

Jackson-based CMS Energy Corp. said about 156,000 of its customers had no electricity as of 4 a.m. Thursday. In the Detroit area, DTE Energy Co. said about 30,000 of its customers were without power. Water on freeways also disrupted the morning rush hour commute.

A lightning strike apparently sparked a house fire in Grand Rapids on Wednesday, injuring a firefighter, but not seriously.

More than 4 inches of rain was reported in Lenawee County.

The storm system also brought heavy rain late Wednesday and early Thursday to parts of Ohio, including Toledo, were 3 1/2 inches fell.

A rotating funnel cloud was spotted west of Toledo, but National Weather Service meteorologist Karen Oudeman said no tornado touchdowns were reported. Flooding closed a portion of Interstate 475 in the area early Thursday.

About 3,000 customers lost power, Toledo Edison said, but most were back up by Thursday morning. Toledo Energy is a unit of FirstEnergy Corp.

To the west, authorities said a tornado damaged some farm buildings late Wednesday in Iowa's Benton County, but no one was hurt.