DETROIT – Heavy rains are to blame for an accident Wednesday morning that took out a power pole on Detroit's west side, sending it crashing down on a garage.
"Oh, boy, the damage is bad," said Rickey Dunham, who owns the garage and home off Kendall Street and the Southfield Freeway service drive. "All of a sudden I heard a loud boom, it was pouring down rain so I thought it was thunder, but my wife told me to look out the window and the power pole was on top of our garage."
The pole was taken down when Shawn Walker's SUV hit it.
"It was pouring down hard," Walker said. "The car in front of me started fishtailing on the service drive. When I tried to break to avoid hitting that car, I hydroplaned and just took off, I went flying."
Walker, who was on his way to work, wasn't seriously hurt.
"I am going to Henry Ford Hospital to get some bumps and bruises checked out," Walker said. "But mostly I feel bad because I don't want to be an inconvenience for people. This was an accident."
The accident caused several homes in the area to lose power. DTE Energy is working to restore it.
Dunham, who has lived in the home since 1973, said this is the second time the pole has fallen on his garage.
"It was maybe eight, 10 years ago, that pole came down and it hit my garage the first time," he Dunham. "This has happened twice now, but that's what insurance is for."