Following a severe thunderstorm that prompted a tornado warning in Washtenaw County and other portions of Southeast Michigan on Sept. 3, 2026, damage in Ypsilanti included downed power lines and tree branches, power outages and some reports of flooding.
7,486 customers were out of power across 63 outages in the 48198 zip code and 2,876 customers were out of power across 47 outages in the 48197 zip code, as of 10:48 p.m. on Sept. 3, according to reports from DTE Energy. Residents can report a power outage online at DTE's outage website.
Ypsilanti Fire Captain Jameson Schultz said the fire department received about 12 or 13 calls following the storm, which sent many residents to basements and windowless rooms after an alert from the National Weather Services.
Trent Frey, meteorologist for the Detroit office of the National Weather Service, previously told The Echo that conditions favorable for a tornado prompted the Thursday afternoon warning. Frey said rotations from the Livingston County area were indicated on the radar, but no actual tornado was identified yet, as of 4:15 p.m. A later survey would confirm if there was a tornado or not, he said.
Schultz said Ypsilanti wasn’t hit with as much damage as other parts of Washtenaw County. The Ypsilanti Fire Department responded to reports of downed power lines in the area, blocking them off with yellow caution tape until DTE Energy could make the repairs, Schultz said. In the meantime, he advised residents to exercise caution near impacted power lines, because they could still carry electricity and be dangerous.
A downed electrical pole in a neighborhood off Cross Street in Ypsilanti blocks the road following a severe thunderstorm that prompted a tornado warning in Washtenaw County, Sept. 3, 2026.
Residents should not cross a blocked off area, neither by foot nor car, Schultz said.
“If there is tape up there, there is tape up for a reason. I know it is an inconvenience, but I would find a different route to go,” he said.
If residents see a downed power that they suspect the fire department isn’t aware of yet, they should call 911 to report it, Schultz said. The fire department was monitoring one small fire in a yard on Maple Street caused by a downed power line, keeping it contained until DTE could shut off the power, as of 7 p.m. on Sept. 3. DTE advised on its website that people should "stay at least 25 feet away from downed power lines, and treat any downed line as live and dangerous, even if it looks harmless."
A screenshot of the DTE outage map on Sept. 3, 2026, after a severe thunderstorm downed power lines in Ypsilanti.
Wayne Hill, an Ypsilanti resident, lives next to a power line near North Adams and Emmet Streets that was knocked down during the storm. He said he was outside on his porch when sparks started flying and the power line toppled. Hill, a Navy veteran, said it was an unusual sight.
“I’ve seen ships blown up, but I haven’t seen that before,” he said.
Hill called 911 and the fire department responded and taped off the area around the power line.
Ypsilanti resident Wayne Hill sits on his porch, from which he witnessed a power line knocked down by a severe thunderstorm that prompted a tornado warning in Washtenaw County, Sept. 3.
Eastern Michigan University Police Chief Matthew Lige said he observed some flooding around Ypsilanti, but only very minimal damage was seen on campus.
A neighborhood near Washtenaw International High School saw several downed tree limbs, bringing neighbors together to clear the branches from the road.
Westmoorland Street resident Josh McCullough said he removed the downed tree limbs from his yard and street and moved them to the road’s median away from traffic. He said he and some of the neighbors pitched in to clear the rest of the road and clean up branches from the yards of out-of-town residents.
“Mike, one of the neighbors on Cross Street, was driving by and happened to have a chainsaw in his trunk of his car, so we were able to just tackle everything and get it out of the way so it was safer,” McCullough said.
McCullough said the neighborhood is a close knit community that works together to take care of each other.
“We have got a mix of some folks here, some folks who are of a certain age and some younger folks, so I definitely want to help out when I can,” McCullough said.
Ypsilanti resident Josh McCullough stands next to fallen tree limbs, which he and other neighbors on Westmoorland Street moved off the road following a severe thunderstorm that prompted a tornado warning in Washtenaw County, Sept. 3, 2026.
McCullough’s neighbor, Anita Heinlein, cleared debris from her own yard after the storm, but didn’t lose any major branches or limbs from her trees. Heinlein said she saw the storm from her house because she stayed on the main floor instead of moving to the basement.
“The wind was heavy, and (there was) heavy rain,” Heinlein said.
John Garcia, part owner of Hill Top Property Services, a lawn care and landscaping company based in Ypsilanti, was already removing tree limbs from the roof of another house on Westmoorland Street within a couple hours of the storm’s passing. The job was his first following the storm, but Garcia said he expects 20 to 30 more calls after Thursday’s weather.
John Garcia, part owner of Hill Top Property Services, loads fallen tree branches into a trailer in Ypsilanti following a severe thunderstorm that prompted a tornado warning in Washtenaw County, Sept. 3.
Garcia said homeowners can prevent significant storm damage by having their property checked proactively, before a severe weather event.
“Always have the property checked out every year. Have a professional come out, check the trees … Make sure there’s (not) any dead limbs or anything that looks like it could be a potential issue,” Garcia said. “Have them trim it up and everything like that.”
The National Weather Service's radar provides live weather updates and can be found at radar.weather.gov.
