Behind the Headlines

By Paula Wethington / paula@monroenews.com

A severe thunderstorm watch has been issued for Monroe County, Mich., until 7 p.m. today Saturday June 21.

National Weather Service - Detroit

By Paula Wethington /paula@monroenews.com

A severe thunderstorm watch has been issued for Monroe County, Mich., until 9 p.m. today Sunday June 15.

National Weather Service - Detroit.

By Paula Wethington /paula@monroenews.com

Monroe County, Mich., is under a severe thunderstorm watch until 9 p.m. today Friday June 13.

National Weather Service - Detroit.

By Paula Wethington / paula@monroenews.com

Power came back on to my home in Monroe about 8 p.m. Wednesday - nearly a 48-hour run.

If you’d like to read up on how we got by, there are follow up stories at Monroe on a Budget.

By Paula Wethington / paula@monroenews.com

The American Red Cross has these tips about coping with an electricity blackout.

By Paula Wethington / paula@monroenews.com

People are chatting at MonroeTalks about the storm damage the past few days.

Any storm damage to report?

And in case you missed it, Jessika at Not From Around Here posted storm photos from a couple of days ago.

By Paula Wethington / paula@monroenews.com

There are still sections of the city of Monroe without power this morning. At least two traffic lights are out on N. Dixie Hwy.; and part of Noble Ave. has been barricaded.

Here is the Breaking News clip posted this morning at monroenews.com.

A powerful thunderstorm raced through Monroe County Monday night, causing power outtages, more downed tree limbs and a host of other problems.

The power outages were still in effect for many this morning, especially in south county. The busy Sterns-Secor Rd. intersection, for example, had only portable stop signs up at 6 a.m. and all of the area businesses were shuttered due to the the lack of power.

Homes in that area were also without electricity.

The storm began around 7:30 p.m. near the state line and was in the Monroe area about the same time. At least two house fires were reported, one in the City of Monroe and one in Frenchtown Township.

By Paula Wethington / paula@monroenews.com

The National Weather Service in Detroit has issued a severe thunderstorm warning for Monroe County, Mich., at 3:25 a.m. Tuesday June 10. I can see lightning in the west.

In the meantime, still no power at my house on northeast side of Monroe … brownout conditions since 8:30 p.m. Our police scanner batteries are running down - the warning beeps woke me up. So I plugged the unit back in so it can soak up whatever electricity is there. Although we have a rechargeable battery system, that radio is self-contained and when it runs out, it’s off. (We ran into same situation during great blackout of August 2003).

Our bigger concern at this point is the refrigerator and the sump pump. It’s one thing to be out of power for a couple hours; totally a different situation when you start reaching several hours.

One of our neighbors has a generator, so my husband was confused when he got home from work late last night and saw some lights on next door. He soon realized we’ve got limited power.

My husband also noticed some of the blocked roads in the area.

I’m wondering what the downtown area will be like. The Monroe Evening News has dealt with power outages before. We can handle them a lot better at the downtown office (newsroom) than we can at distribution / printing center on Huber Dr.

By Paula Wethington / paula@monroenews.com

Well, let’s see how long I can keep an Internet connection going this time. I did lose connection at one point. It’s really, really dark with just a camping light and a laptop computer on in the house. I will need to get some more D batteries when this is all done with (yes I’m going to look in the sales fliers and will post what I find at Monroe on a Budget)

A couple of my neighbors in Monroe have decided to start bailing out their sump pumps with buckets - great idea, but I couldn’t figure out how to take the lid off my pump. I did peek in the pump and see that while the water is high, it’s OK for now.

I imagine some of us neighbors will be going to the hardware store in the next few days for battery backups to the sumps. You see, I’m in a neighborhood that didn’t lose power during the August 2003 power outage; although the neighborhood my husband and I lived in at the time did lose power for several hours. So it’s just not something that is a common enough situation for our current neighbors to think about it.

I have, however, unplugged or turned off anything else I can think of. When there’s enough power to run the sump, I want it to run the sump.

And for whatever it’s worth, I did go through the power outage voice mail at DTE Energy to make the official report.

Some of what I’m hearing on the radio this hour:

• Transformer on fire on Bay View St. near Glenwood in Monroe.
• 2100 block of Sterns Rd., wires down.
• Tree on fire at Dunbar and Keegan.
• 1000 block of W. Front St. near Kaye Lani Dr., Monroe, wires down.
• Tree down in 4100 block of E. Dunbar Rd.
• 200 block of Rabbit Run, Ash Township, fire department called to check on that house.
• Wires down in 600 and 700 block of Kentucky Ave. in Monroe.

National Weather Service in Detroit also has posted on its site “multiple trees blown down” in Monroe; a truck that was blown off I-75 near Exit 16; and several trees down in “downtown” Petersburg.

By Paula Wethington / paula@monroenews.com

Hats off to the dispatchers tonight for keeping up with all this stuff … more of what I’m catching on the scanner amid the fire truck sirens off in a distance, occasional lightning flashes and soft rain falling in city of Monroe.

• 3600 block of Dunbar Rd., Bedford Township, wires down.
• 8300 block of Lewis Ave., wires down.
• W. Albain Rd., wires down.
• Wires down, 7900 block of Jackman Rd, including a tree that is down on a house in that area.
• Wires down, 8800 block of Summerfield Rd., including a tree reported on fire, in Bedford Township.
• Wires down on Michigan Ave. in city of Monroe.

In the meantime, the radar picture must have looked really pretty on TV. I just got a phone call from a relative in Ohio who’s wondering how my husband and I are holding up after she saw the weather reports.

By Paula Wethington / paula@monroenews.com

I have to apologize for putting this info on blog page rather than at monroenews.com — it’s the easiest way for me to “report” from home!

National Weather Service storm report page is listing hail seen near I-75 and Exit 17.

Monroe County Central Dispatch has also been making these reports as they call out firefighters:

• Wires down in 900 block of E. Ninth St., Monroe city.
• 300 block of W. Elm Ave., Monroe, wires down.
• Wires down near Grove and Macomb Sts., Monroe city.
• Lightning hit a tree 400 block E. Elm Ave., Monroe city.
• Dixiebrook Rd. in LaSalle, wires down.
• Transformer on fire Noble Ave. and Michigan, Monroe city.
• Rescue workers have been checking on boaters, so far all appear to be OK and accounted for.

By the way, feel free to chime in on the comment section with your neighborhood damage reports. I set it up so the e-mail pings will get to my computer at work.

By Paula Wethington / paula@monroenews.com

Here we go again???

The National Weather Service in Detroit has issued a severe thunderstorm watch for Monroe County, Mich., until 8 p.m. today Monday June 9.

By Paula Wethington / paula@monroenews.com

Are there any damage reports from area residents about the weekend storms? If so, the Monroe Evening News would like to hear about it. You can post back here, and I’ll get an e-mail ping, or call 242-1100 after 7 a.m. tomorrow and hit the “newsroom” button on the voice mail to talk to someone live.

I have an older police scanner at home that will pick up the fire department / Monroe County Central Dispatch frequency. I’ve heard wires down calls at Meadowbrook Drive, 8500 block of Summerfield Rd., S. Dixie Hwy. near Mason Eagles Dr., 2000 block of W. Erie Rd., 8800 block of Whiteford Center Rd. and W. Stein Rd. in LaSalle Township.

The National Weather Service in Detroit is so far posting 30 mph wind gust recorded in Monroe and a 38 mph wind gust recorded in Lambertville; but the NWS has no damage reports for Monroe County.

At 5:30 p.m. Sunday June 8 the National Weather Service has issued a severe thunderstorm warning for Monroe County until 6:45 p.m.

National Weather Service Detroit.

Update at 5:49 p.m. both Dundee and Ida fire departments have been called to their stations for weather watch duties. This is usual procedure when the weather service or local emergency management officers need trained people to watch the skies.