The Eagle

Area recovering from massive storm destruction

Communities across western Wayne County spent last weekend clearing downed trees, waiting on power restoration and tallying damage after two rounds of severe thunderstorms tore through southeast Michigan on Sept. 2 and 3, prompting tornado warnings, a confirmed tornado and widespread outages that at one point left more than 350,000 DTE customers in the dark.
Severe storms were first reported on Wednesday evening. The National Weather Service later confirmed a brief tornado touched down near Marysville in St. Clair County that night. The more serious disruption occurred Thursday afternoon, Sept. 3, when a second line of storms swept southeast across the state, prompting a tornado warning for the area.
Communities across the Canton Township, Romulus, Westland, Wayne, Sumpter Township and Plymouth corridor — all named in the Thursday tornado warning or the broader severe thunderstorm watches that followed — reported downed trees, damaged power lines and scattered structural damage, echoing the pattern seen elsewhere in the county. Local officials repeatedly urged residents to treat any dark traffic signal as a four-way stop and to steer clear of any downed lines, reporting them directly to DTE rather than assuming they were dead.
DTE Energy reported more than 110,000 customers without power by Thursday afternoon, a number that grew past 350,000 as the evening storms rolled through, with outages later climbing toward 280,000 overnight. Wayne County was among the hardest hit counties in the region. DTE said it deployed more than 3,700 crew members, including out-of-state line workers, with several hundred additional linemen brought in through the weekend to speed up restoration.

Canton, where there had been localized flooding earlier in the week, saw additional wind and tree damage from the Thursday storms. Public Works Division staff worked through the weekend clearing main roads of fallen limbs and debris before moving into subdivision streets, and asked residents with trees down on private property to coordinate removal through their homeowners' associations or private landscapers. Residents without power were directed to report outages straight to DTE, since the township only manages water and sewer service. Canton officials also encouraged residents with storm-related damage to fill out the township online damage-assessment survey, which is part of the broader effort to determine whether federal disaster assistance may eventually be warranted.
Romulus, anchored by Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport, sat directly in the path of the storm cell as it moved northeast through the area. The open terrain in the community has funneled strong wind gusts through neighborhoods along the Ecorse Road, Van Born Road and Wayne Road corridors, and this round of storms was no exception, with crews responding to downed trees and lines in the hours after the warning expired. Flights were cancelled or delayed and flooding reportedly made interstate roadways leading to the airport impassable.

Westland and the city of Wayne were both named in the expanding severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings Thursday afternoon as the storm line pushed southeast, and both saw the kind of tree damage and scattered outages reported across the rest of western Wayne County. Sumpter Township, on the southwestern edge of the county, fell within the same warnings and outage footprint, with residents there also encouraged to report damage and outages through the county storm-recovery channels.
The National Weather Service specifically listed Plymouth among the communities where trees or power lines came down Thursday. Interstate roads through the area were underwater for a brief period as the heavy rain continued. Cleanup in the city and surrounding Plymouth Township continued into the weekend as crews worked through scattered outages and debris.
Residents in Canton, Romulus, Westland, Wayne, Sumpter Township and Plymouth are encouraged to report ongoing outages directly to DTE Energy at 800-477-4747 or through the utility's online outage map, and to route any storm-damage reports through their local township or city hall so the totals can be included in county and state damage assessments.
Romulus Mayor Robert McCraight urged residents to practice all safety measures. He also urged residents to check on elderly neighbors, individuals with disabilities, and anyone who may depend on electrically powered medical equipment.
“City crews, first responders, utility workers, and our public-service partners are actively assessing damage and responding to hazardous conditions. Please give emergency and cleanup crews plenty of room to work, and do not enter areas that have been closed or barricaded,” McCraight advised.

“Recovery will take time, and your patience and cooperation are greatly appreciated. Please continue monitoring official city of Romulus communications for updates. “Stay alert, stay safe, and please look out for one another,” McCraight posted on social media.