Downed power lines found across Macomb County after bands of power storms roll through

MACOMB COUNTY, Mich. (FOX 2) - The fast-moving storms brought heavy rain and strong winds knocking out power and trees with dark skies and bands of rain making hard to drive.

Josef Smith was caught by surprise at work when the weather turned severe.

"I got a call from the wife out here in Shelby Township and she said there was a storm coming through and she sounded scared," he said.

Smith packed up and started heading home and then found out why she was a little frightened.

"There was (tree) limbs down everywhere," he said. "And once I pulled onto Lakeshore Drive, I started noticing bigger trees, bigger limbs. On my way out of there I got stuck in the neighborhoods because everywhere you turned there was a tree down in the street blocking your way."

Clean up was well underway as FOX 2 made our way south from Shelby Township to St. Clair Shores - encountering a family dealing with an impromtu and dangerous electric show right out side their window.

"There was an electrical fire, a wire came down with the wind and it caught, and thankfully it did not hit our house," said Kayla Freeman.

The wild and terrifying display was enough to prompt a visit from the fire department.

"It is an electrical fire so it’s going to be really dangerous so they not put it out but they said that it wasn’t going to hit the house, but they came and they made sure we were okay," Kayla said.

For a couple of teens, it was a lot to process.

"I was pretty nervous when it started to happen but after a little while, I calmed down," said Eli Freeman. "And I’m okay."

More storm coverage:

• Severe storm aftermath: More than 200K without power
• Western Oakland County hit hard by Tuesday's storms

FOX 2 also saw first-hand during our interview how a harmless looking down wire can be in fact extremely danerous.

"I want to thank the firefighters and the police for keeping us safe and I hope everyone else is doing okay," Kayla said.

At least 200,000 DTE Energy customers are in the dark tonight. CLICK HERE for the outage map and to report downed wires or outages.

DTE reminds everyone to remain at least 25 feet away from downed power lines or anything in contact with them. Assume any downed line is live and dangerous.