A fast-moving line of strong storms swept through northern Indiana and southwest Michigan Monday afternoon, knocking down trees and power lines and leaving thousands of residents without electricity.

According to outage data from Indiana Michigan Power and PowerOutage.us, more than 15,000 Indiana Michigan Power customers were without power following the storms.

The hardest-hit areas included St. Joseph County, where more than 7,000 outages were reported, along with portions of Cass County, Berrien County, and Elkhart County.

Heavy rain, frequent lightning, and strong wind gusts moved through the region during the past hour, causing scattered damage and widespread service interruptions. Emergency crews and utility workers have been responding to reports of downed tree limbs and power lines across the area.

Indiana Michigan Power has not yet released an estimated restoration timeline for all affected customers. Residents are urged to stay away from downed power lines and report outages directly to the utility company.

Forecasters say additional showers and storms remain possible Monday evening as the weather system continues moving east across the region.