Heavy Flooding Reported in Michigan, Wisconsin

Heavy downpours Saturday flooded roads, damaged a bridge and forced the evacuation of a trailer park in central Wisconsin, officials said.

The National Weather Service reported that as much as 9 inches of rain fell in some areas from storms that began Friday and intensified overnight.

A chance of more storms was forecast for the central and northern portions of the state through the weekend.

The same storm system also hit parts of Michigan on Saturday, hampering cleanup efforts from earlier storms. About 9,000 Consumers Energy Co. customers lost power Friday and about 1,150 remained without service Saturday, spokeswoman Leslie Roth said.

“We had a lot of the storm damage cleaned up, but another storm came through the Saginaw area this morning,” she said.

On Friday, 8 feet to 10 feet of water collected beneath overpasses in areas south of Detroit, and one shopping center closed because its parking lots flooded.

In Wisconsin, water standing as deep as 4 feet closed many roads Saturday in Wautoma, said Waushara County sheriff’s Det. Steve Rodger. He said flooding also damaged a bridge in Plainfield. Road closings were reported in Adams, Clark and Portage counties.

Flooding forced the evacuation of a trailer park in Stratford, Wis., said Marathon County sheriff’s dispatcher Tony Nardi. Nardi did not have any immediate details of how many people were evacuated.

Late Friday, lightning struck a natural gas storage facility in Oak Creek, Wis., forcing residents to evacuate, said Margaret Stanfield, a We Energies spokeswoman. She said lightning ignited some venting gas, causing a fire but no explosions.