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Karen Clark, a meteorologist with the U.S. Weather Service in White Lake Township, said an observer two miles west of Lapeer reported 6.25 inches of rain fell between 5 and 10 p.m. "It was a good sizable rainfall," she said, but added it wasn't particularly unusual for this time of year.

Clark noted there's a 40% chance of thunderstorms today.

She said the weather service received reports of hail ranging from 3/4 of an inch to one inch between 5:30 and 6 p.m. and one report of 13/4-inch hail in North Branch just before 8 p.m. She said a series of storms moved through Lapeer County from Genesee County to the Saginaw Valley at about 20 mph, dropping the bulk of their rain in Elba, Lapeer and Hadley townships.

Kurt Nast, Hadley Township's fire chief, said his department received no calls Wednesday and the township experienced no power outages.

The same could not be said for Lapeer Township and the city.

Lapeer City Police Chief Todd Alexander said his officers and the fire department were kept busy with reports of power failures, alarms going off and flooding. The worst, he said, was on DeMille Street near the new Starbucks store where the rain washed freshly laid sod over storm drain openings causing the street to flood a foot deep. He said storm drains in several other locations in the city, including parts of Genesee, Saginaw, Oregon, Park and Lincoln street, were overwhelmed causing temporary flooding by as much as six inches.

Alexander said a woman had her leg broken when she was hit by a car in the Wal-Mart parking lot during the storm and police fielded several cars that stalled out trying to drive through deep water. He said the fire department was kept busy checking out alarms and reports of smoke in the Big Lots store as the result of a failed air conditioning unit.

Just to the west in Imlay City, Fire Chief Kip Reaves said he was "shocked" by how little impact the storm had. He said while he kept getting calls from fire chiefs from as far away as Capac, he commented, "We had not problems." However, he added, "We fully expected to get hammered."

Reaves said the most serious problem in his community was a transformer that took a lightening hit at the corner of Newark Road and M-53. He said it caused a low power situation in some parts of the business district.

State Police in Lapeer reported no storm-related activity. Elba Township Fire Chief Michael Burke said his department had no runs in his community, but made several mutual aid runs into the city.

In Deerfield Township, fire chief Wiegele said there a couple of downed trees, including one spotted by one of his crews on Gravel Creek Road while on their way to a controlled burn, and some isolated power outages.

"We got some pretty good sized hail but, thank god, no damage," he said.

He added there was some minor flooding along some stretches of the Flint River, but nothing out of the ordinary.

Phil Foley may be reached at (810) 664-0811, Ext. 8148 or pfoley@lapeergroup.com