Hundreds in Holt area still without power after hail, downburst from storms

Update 5:45 p.m.: The number of customers without power in Ingham County was down to 388, according to Consumers Energy's outage map. The utility estimated that power for most of those customers would not be restored until Friday night or early Saturday.

The map also showed that about 125 customers northeast of DeWitt were without power. The estimated restoration time for those customers was 3:30 a.m. Saturday.

Update 3:30 p.m.: Consumers Energy's outage map showed 1,268 customers without electrical service in Ingham County, mostly in Delhi, Alaiedon and Meridian Townships, as of 3:30 p.m. Estimated restoration times ranged from late afternoon to Friday night.

LANSING — Nearly 1,200 Consumers Energy customers in Ingham County remained without power on Friday morning in the wake of strong storms that felled trees and prompted severe weather alerts.

The hit-or-miss thunderstorms tracked across southwest and south-central Michigan for hours on Thursday afternoon, some of which showed rotation on radar, the National Weather Service said. The hardest-hit area was Holt, where hail reached the size of a golfball and the storm induced a downburst, forecasters said.

Nearly 3,000 customers were without power in central Ingham County late Thursday afternoon, and Consumers' outage map was showing 1,176 remained without power as of 10:30 a.m. Friday. The estimated restoration times ranged from noon to 3:15 p.m. Friday.

There were reports of downed trees and power lines in Ingham County, and a flood advisory was in effect in Clinton, Eaton and Ingham counties until 10:30 p.m. Thursday.

The National Weather Service issued several tornado warnings, including one for the Grand Ledge, Sunfield and Lake Odessa areas shortly after 3 p.m. The warning expired about 45 minutes later.

The agency also issued a series of severe thunderstorm warnings, including one for northwest Ingham County and east-central Eaton County and another for central and southeast Ingham County.

At least some of the storms were generating large hail and damaging winds, forecasters said. The storm cells generally were slow-moving and short-lived, but were producing heavy downpours.

Friday's forecast called for more of the same, with showers and storms in the afternoon capable of producing hail and gusty winds.

Highs will be in the high 80s on Friday and about 90 degrees on Saturday before falling back to around 80 degrees on Sunday. There was a chance of showers and a slight chance thunderstorms on Saturday, forecasters said.

Contact Ken Palmer at kpalmer@lsj.com. Follow him on X @KBPalm_lsj.

This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Crews still working to restore power following storms, including downburst in Holt