Severe thunderstorms left DTE Energy customers without power across southeast Michigan overnight, and a second round of storms through Oakland County Thursday morning pushed the utility's statewide outages past 115,000 customers by early Thursday afternoon — with Farmington Hills named in the National Weather Service's original severe thunderstorm warning and the heaviest early outages clustered in the M-59 to I-96 corridor.

DTE's outage map showed 81,500 customers without electricity at 6 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 3. By 7:39 a.m., that number had climbed to 90,265, according to CBS Detroit. Outages kept climbing through the morning — reaching 99,020 shortly after 9 a.m. and topping 101,800 by 10 a.m., before dipping slightly to just over 99,000 an hour later. A fresh line of severe storms then moved through central Oakland County and drove the statewide DTE total to 115,650 customers by early Thursday afternoon, the Oakland Press reported. Real-time counts are available on DTE's outage map.

The storms struck late Wednesday, Sept. 2, after one of the hottest days of the summer. Temperatures hit 96 degrees Wednesday afternoon, according to The Detroit News. The National Weather Service had issued a severe thunderstorm warning overnight that named Farmington Hills, Troy and Southfield.

The overnight system brought 2-inch hail, flooding downpours and damaging winds. Reports showed 67 mph gusts near the Livingston County airport. An NWS employee in Livingston County estimated gusts of at least 70 mph at his home, according to NWS meteorologist Alex Manion. Manion said the storm "produced severe damaging winds … as it moved through Livingston and Oakland counties and to the east through Macomb County." Winds in Macomb County ranged from 45 to 60 mph.

A flood warning covered southern Oakland County, southwestern Macomb County and northern Wayne County until 5:30 a.m. Thursday, with up to 2 inches of rain expected. Most affected customers are in Oakland or Wayne counties, though Livingston County was also hit hard, CBS Detroit reported.

A second severe thunderstorm warning went into effect at 10:50 a.m. Thursday as a new storm system moved eastward through central Oakland County with wind gusts up to 70 mph expected, expiring at 11:45 a.m. That round of storms caused damage well east of Farmington and Farmington Hills — sirens sounded in Troy, branches came down and roads flooded in Oakland Township and Rochester Hills, and power poles were left tilting on Tienken Road in Rochester Hills, closing the road, the Oakland Press reported. No Farmington or Farmington Hills damage reports had surfaced as of Thursday afternoon.

DTE said late Thursday morning that more than 2,600 storm response team members were working to restore power, with 80 more en route from out of state. "We estimate that 80 percent of impacted customers will be restored by the end of the day," the utility said. Residents can check DTE's outage map online for current status.

The outage is the second major power failure in the area in two months. During a July 3–9 outage, Farmington Hills recorded 38 downed wires, 14 heat-related emergencies, seven carbon monoxide alarms and seven downed trees in the right-of-way, according to city council minutes from a July 13 meeting.

Mayor Rich told the council the response required a tremendous amount of city resources and addressed the Michigan Public Service Commission on July 16 about DTE reliability. Council Member Aldred said at the same meeting that he had received emails from frustrated residents and remained unconvinced that sufficient progress had been made.

DTE has been conducting grid improvement work in Farmington neighborhoods as part of a pledge to reduce outages by 30% and cut outage times in half by 2029, according to a City of Farmington notice.

Center Line Public Schools, Howell Public Schools, Brother Rice High School and Marian High School canceled classes Thursday because of outages. No closures for Farmington Public Schools had been confirmed as of Thursday afternoon.

Across the broader region, a tree fell on a house in Madison Heights and flooding temporarily blocked lanes on eastbound I-94 near Gratiot Avenue. Traffic lights were out at intersections across the area, CBS Detroit reported. The region faces a marginal risk of additional storms Thursday and Friday before conditions dry out for Labor Day weekend, with highs near 80 degrees expected Saturday through Monday.

Families who lost power for at least four hours and purchased food with SNAP assistance may be eligible for reimbursement by contacting their local Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) office within 10 days of the outage, according to CBS Detroit.