Severe thunderstorms swept across south-eastern Wisconsin on Thursday, bringing flooding, fallen trees and widespread power outages to communities around Milwaukee.
More than 20,000 We Energies customers were without electricity during the morning storms, with outages reported across Milwaukee, West Allis, Germantown, Hubertus, Oconomowoc, Richfield and Sussex.
The National Weather Service issued a severe thunderstorm warning for northern Milwaukee County, south-western Ozaukee County, north-eastern Waukesha County and south-eastern Washington County. The warning was in force until 8.45am local time.
Forecasters said the storms were capable of producing damaging winds, large hail and torrential rain. An isolated tornado was also considered possible as further storms developed.
Flooding reported in Milwaukee
Heavy rainfall prompted a flash flood warning covering parts of Milwaukee, Waukesha, Ozaukee and Washington counties until 12.15pm.
Flooding was reported near the junction of 60th Street and Bradley Road in Milwaukee, while officials warned that additional rain could lead to further minor flooding in affected areas.
Trees were also brought down in the Village of Richfield, adding to the disruption caused by the storm system and leaving some roads and properties affected.
The National Weather Service in Milwaukee-Sullivan said the region could see further rounds of showers and thunderstorms through Thursday evening and overnight. The most significant risks are damaging winds and heavy rainfall, particularly if storms repeatedly track over the same locations.
Temperatures were expected to reach the mid-to-upper 80s Fahrenheit, with heat indices in the 90s and approaching 100F near the Wisconsin-Illinois border.
