Tornado warnings across Southeast Michigan ground DTW flights, knock out power to 110,000

Severe thunderstorms put all of Southeast Michigan under tornado warning on Thursday afternoon, according to [1], with warnings covering Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Washtenaw and Monroe counties as the threat moved through Metro Detroit. Detroit Metro Airport was placed under a ground stop as the storms passed through the region, according to [1] — the mundane and plausible driver behind the DTW delay flags that first drew attention to this story. The National Weather Service said the tornado warning for Wayne County, which includes Detroit, Dearborn and Livonia, was set to run until 4:30 p.m., according to [1]. Warnings for Oakland, Macomb and Washtenaw counties were due to expire at 4:15 p.m., while Monroe County remained under warning until 5 p.m., according to [1]. Livingston County was briefly included in the regional threat before being dropped, while the other counties stayed under warning, according to [1]. The storms had already brought heavy thunder, lightning and downpours to Metro Detroit on Wednesday night and into Thursday morning, before the tornado warnings themselves arrived Thursday afternoon, according to [1]. The National Weather Service warned the storms could persist through the early afternoon, with wind gusts up to 70 mph and risks including tree damage and impacts to mobile homes and roofs, according to [1]. The power impact was severe and immediate. By 2:40 p.m., more than 110,000 DTE customers had lost power, according to [1]. DTE Director of Operations Jerry Tullio said 80% of customers affected by the first wave of the storm could expect service restored by the end of the day Thursday, according to [1]. DTE said the most significant storm damage affecting service was concentrated along the I-96 corridor, according to [1]. To speed the response, 400 out-of-state linemen were already on the ground helping, with another 800 en route later Thursday afternoon, according to [1]. Detroit's Chief of Fire Operations, David Nelson, urged residents to treat any visible power line as electrified and to stay at least 25 feet away from downed lines, according to [1]. He said people should also keep clear if a line is touching another object, and keep children away entirely, according to [1]. If a power line falls on a home, Nelson said residents should leave the property immediately and call 911, according to [1]. With further storms expected later Thursday evening, according to [1], the immediate priorities in Metro Detroit remained keeping clear of downed lines, tracking the county-by-county warning expirations, and waiting for DTE's restoration effort to catch up with outages that were still spreading as the afternoon wore on. For Wayne, the takeaway is a clean one: the DTW ground stop and the tornado warnings are the same event, not two separate signals worth cross-referencing. Nothing in the material suggests the airport disruption has any cause beyond the storm system itself. What to watch next: whether DTE hits its own target of restoring 80% of first-wave customers by end of day Thursday, and whether the evening storms bring fresh warnings or a longer DTW ground stop.