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Severe storms topple trees, leave more than 100,000 Metro Detroiters without power

‘One of the trees was leaning on the powerline and smoking. I was worried about that’

METRO DETROIT – Wednesday’s storms left a large mess across Metro Detroit. At its peak, more than 130,000 people lost power.

More: Huron, Ionia, Washtenaw counties added to emergency declaration following severe Michigan weather

DTE Energy has crews all over southeast Michigan, fixing fallen wires, utility poles and transformers, cutting down compromised tree limbs and more.

In Birmingham, a massive tree fell on a garage, crushing an SUV that belonged to Keith Boman’s daughter. She was out of town, so dad was on cleanup.

“The garage is off its foundation and it’s leaning over dramatically,” Boman said. “It’s pushed into the neighbor’s garage and the neighbor’s garage is off center a little bit too.”

More: Metro Detroiters share weather damage photos from July 7, 2021 storms

The National Weather Service said it does not believe the damage was from a tornado and didn’t send a crew out to inspect the damage.

Richard Oras’ roof was taken off by the strong winds.

“When the wind came up, it turned green and I decided to retreat to a safe spot in the house,” Oras recalled. “I hear a loud sound, a crack and boom and then it seemed to me that something was different and so I went and I looked outside and those trees were down in the back and front.”

A white pine, estimated to be 100 years old, collapsed on his neighbor’s boat house and deck. Two other large trees on the property came down. Across the street, another massive pine was snapped in half.

Jeff Seymour’s grandchildren’s trampoline was twisted like a pretzel and hung from a telephone pole.



About the Authors
Dane Kelly headshot

Dane is a producer and media enthusiast. He previously worked freelance video production and writing jobs in Michigan, Georgia and Massachusetts. Dane graduated from the Specs Howard School of Media Arts.

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