Heavy rain floods streets in the Detroit area

“We were getting rainfall rates above an inch an hour, which is pretty significant,” Cromwell said, adding that more severe thunderstorms with torrential rain were possible over the region during Thursday evening.

A flood warning was in effect until Thursday afternoon for five southeastern Michigan counties: Livingston, Monroe, Oakland, Wayne and Washtenaw. The National Weather Service said urban and small stream flooding was expected and was already occurring in the area Thursday.

A heat advisory was also in effect through Thursday night for several southeastern Michigan counties, with heat index values of up to 102 degrees expected during Thursday, the weather service said.

The storms caused power outages across Michigan concentrated in the Detroit area, with more than 58,000 homes and businesses in the dark as of 9 a.m., according to poweroutage.us.