Storms rip through Williams Co, 1 hurt

EDGERTON, Ohio - Severe weather in Northwestern Ohio damaged several buildings in the Village of Edgerton, including the town's old municipal courthouse and firehouse, and injured one firefighter.

The unnamed firefighter suffered a couple of fractures from the debris, Edgerton Mayor Lance Bowsher said.

A trained weather spotter reported that the courthouse in Edgerton was damaged in the storm, LIN Media sister station WANE.com reported.

The old municipal courthouse was not being used and it was attached to the fire station. Debris from the municipal building fell down and onto the fire house, FOX Toledo News anchor Shaun Hegarty reports.

There has also been a possible train derailment with two semis resting against the train, WANE.com reported.

According to Wednesday's storm prediction reports into the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Edgerton's fire station was damaged from the storm.

The Williams County sheriff's office said heavy rain and strong winds passed through the county Wednesday night.

The sheriff's office said it doesn't know if a tornado hit the county, which is next to Indiana and Michigan and has about 37,000 residents.

The Williams County sheriff reached out overnight early Thursday to firefighters for help determining the extent of the damage.

The Bryan Fire Department is assisting.

Additionally, a report into FOX Toledo News from the Pioneer Fire Department said a possible twister was sighted near a Boy Scout camp outside the Village of Pioneer in northern Williams County at the height of the storm as it crossed into Ohio from Indiana.

The Boy Scout camp is located about seven miles east of the village. High winds with heavy downpours and hail knocked out power to Pioneer and to nearby Kunkle.

In Monroe County, Mich., Emergency Management Agency Director Gregory Williams said he has sent crews to assess post-storm damage in the towns of Milan and Maybee.

The severe line of storms sparked several tornado warnings throughout the tri-state area, including portions of Jackson, Washtenaw, Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties in lower Michigan, as well as Paulding, Defiance, Williams, Allen, Van Wert and Fulton counties in Northwest Ohio.

By the time the storm line crossed into Lucas, Wood and Ottawa counties and over the open waters of Lake Erie, the storm line weakened but still packed a punch with driving rains, significant lightning and gusty winds.

As of 2 a.m. early Thursday, FirstEnergy / Toledo Edison said on its website it was dealing with upwards of 12,000 customers without power, from Defiance and Williams counties, to Ottawa and Huron counties.

American Electric Power said it had over 3,000 of its customers without power after Wednesday evening's storms. The highest affected areas were southern Sandusky County and Van Wert County.

DTE Energy in Metro Detroit are also dealing with scattered outages in Monroe, Wayne and Washtenaw counties. Upwards of 1,000 customers are without power in an area that includes the towns of Milan and Maybee. Upwards of 5,000 are without power in Belleville near Ypsilanti, DTE's website said.

As the storm crossed over Lake Erie and the Detroit River into southern Ontario, Canada, tornado warnings were issued, myFOXDetroit.com reported during their storm coverage.

Unconfirmed reports of funnel clouds were reported in Milan near Saline on the Washtenaw-Monroe border, as well as second possible vortex near Interstate-94 and the Metro Detroit towns of Romulus and Taylor near the Detroit Metro Airport.

"At this point, we have not received any reports of significant damage other than your typical post-storm debris, which would include downed power lines, tree limbs, transformers blowing," Williams said.

"We haven't had any reports of significant damage."

A line of rainstorms in northwestern Indiana caused a semitrailer to overturn and flooded portions of an expressway.

Forecasts in Michigan called for heavy rain and wind gusts approaching 80 mph.

In Chicago, a storm cell Wednesday evening spawned a tornado that touched down near Downers Grove, myFOXChicago.com reported.

Take any images or video of storm damage from Wednesday's line or storms? Send them to news@foxtoledo.com or sent Twitpics or Twitvids to @FOXToledo on Twitter .

Check out storm reports from the National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center.

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LIN Media sister station WANE.com and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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