DTE preps for severe Wednesday night storm risks with 2,600 line workers

FOX 2 - Wednesday's weather has had all forms of precipitation with concerns of storms forecast for tonight with the area under a flood watch.

Rain, sleet, snow and even storms rolled through Metro Detroit this morning, with a second round expected between 9 p.m. and midnight - leading to extra preparations by DTE Energy.

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Brian Calka from DTE spoke this afternoon about the preparations underway in case of outages and downed power lines.

"A big weather system is coming across the state carrying winds of up to 60 to 65 miles per hour with torrential rains and with that, a potential for customer outages," said Calka, the VP of distribution efforts.

Southeast Michigan has already received a half to three-quarters of an inch of rain with the possibility of up to half an inch more tonight.

Weather Authority Stephanie Mead says the severe weather risk has been downgraded slightly. While storms are still expected to be moving across Metro Detroit, the strongest tornado risk will be in southern Wayne, Monroe and Lenawee counties.

Calka said 2,000 line workers are available with an extra 650 coming in from out of state to help the repair efforts. The extra workers are expected to arrive tonight and begin work in the morning.