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© Courtney Sacco | The Ann Arbor NewsSevere weather rolls over Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor during a tornado warning, Monday, May 12, 2014.
A series of severe storms ripped through Southeast Michigan late Monday afternoon, but no tornadoes touched down in Washtenaw County despite multiple warnings.

Clouds roll past Dexter Ann Arbor Rd. after a storm passed through the area on Monday 12, 2014. Melanie Maxwell | The Ann Arbor News

The storms caused limited damage and led to some minor traffic problems throughout the region.

The first official indication that the adverse weather was on its way was a severe thunderstorm watch issued by the National Weather Service at 2 p.m. The watch remains in effect until 10 p.m. and covers most of southeast and central Michigan.

The area's first tornado warning was issued shortly after 3 p.m. and covered Northern Washtenaw and Southern Livingston County. The warning was prompted by a storm that produced a tornado that touched down near Gregory in Livingston County.

According to reports, a tornado touched down near the intersection of Doyle Road and Unadilla Drive in Gregory. There does not appear to be damage in the area.

The storm moved east and deposited heavy amounts of rain and a significant number of lighting strikes along the Livingston-Washtenaw County line. The storm was followed by a number of others that caused the warning that had been scheduled to expire at 4:15 p.m. to be extended by 45 minutes.

Other storm cells developed and passed near Chelsea and Dexter to the West of Ann Arbor and Saline to the south, causing a tornado warning to be issued for the southern half of the county at approximately 3:45 p.m. The whole county remained under tornado warning until 4:45 p.m.

The source for the warnings was rotation in the storms noted on Doppler radar readings that indicated possible tornado formation.

At 5 p.m. the tornado warning for Northern Washtenaw and Southern Livingston Counties expired without any further tornado activity.

The tornado warnings caused schools in the area to go on lockdown and students were not released to go home until after the warnings expired.

After the storms passed to the east of the county, a rope tornado was reported by the National Weather Service near Detroit Beach in Monroe.

Heavy rain fell throughout the region, prompting flash flood warnings to be issued for Northern Livingston and Oakland Counties.