• Record, one-day rainfall overwhelmed drainage systems.
• One to three inches of rain fell throughout metro Detroit.
• More downpours, on Friday and Saturday, are expected.

Record rainfall overwhelmed drainage systems in southeast Michigan, leaving many in metro Detroit to wake up Thursday to what forecasters had warned them about: flooded streets and homes.

A newscaster, who was reporting for Channel 7 in waders and tall rubber boots, said the water was so deep on one eastside Detroit street that it “looked like a river.” He also described a Lincoln Park homeowner using a bucket to bail basement water.

A brief respite from the rain appears to be coming later Thursday. A flood warning for four counties — Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, and Washtenaw — ended at 10 a.m., and the temperatures are expected to rise into the mid-60s.

More downpours, on Friday and Saturday, are expected, leaving residents and officials to wonder not only what comes next, but whether more should be done to try to prevent it, especially as climate scientists warn the threat of more intense storms is real.

“It’s going to be a pretty active next few days going into next week,” National Weather Service meteorologist Sara Schultz in White Lake Township said early Thursday, as flooding reports began to come in. “Detroit and Flint both broke a record for daily max rainfall.”

Talk about April showers.

In some parts of the Thumb, there also was hail.

Thunderstorms pummeled southeast Michigan, bringing 1-3 inches of rain.

Flooding reports have been trickling in, Schultz said, including Detroit, Dearborn Heights — and parts of Downriver, all low-lying areas that often flood whenever there is a heavy downpour.

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At Detroit Metro Airport in Romulus, where official rainfall measurements are taken, a new record — 2.18 inches — was set for Wednesday, breaking the previous record of 1.44 inches in 1945.

In Flint, the new record was 1.75 inches, besting the record of 1.62 inches also set in 1945.

There was more rainfall, Schultz said, in other areas: Pittsfield, near Ann Arbor, had 3.07 inches, and Sterling Heights, 2.64 inches. It was not clear whether the downpours set records there.

In many places, by early morning, the standing water was beginning to drain away.

But rising global temperatures are leading to more severe and frequent storms, more rainfall, and flooding, what various reports in the last year have called “hidden risks” to cities and millions of homeowners.

Flooding poses infrastructure risks and may require building code updates.

Insurance Business magazine reported in May that premiums are rising, while profit margins for insurance companies across the country are falling, prompting some carriers to drop coverage in certain areas.

And in Canton, one Grandview Estates homeowner who was flooded overnight emailed the Free Press, writing that it was the third flood for him in less than four years and is concerned that it will only get worse as more subdivisions are built.

The added concrete, the homeowner speculated, will “diminish the area’s ability to absorb rainwater and our situation will become even more dire” and weather events once considered “a 100 year occurrence” are occurring within years and perhaps just days.

Contact Frank Witsil: 313-222-5022 or [email protected].

This story was updated with new information.