SOUTHFIELD, Mich. (WXYZ) — For several hours on Wednesday evening there was no way in our out of Franklin Village.
“It covered the street in its entirety, and it must have been 20 ft high,” said Adam Acey.
The heavy rains and winds knocked over a tree that took several people and chainsaws to move out of the way.
“This was scary,” said Lacey. He lives on Rosemond.
Behind his home was some more damage including down power lines and debris. “This storm line that came tough just obliterated all that stuff,” he adds
The storm started around 5 p.m. in the evening.
“There was so much going on. It was the same time the person on Northwestern was covered with the lines,” Acey said.
The same woman driver noticed on her way to Southfield from her shop in Farmington Hills.
“A woman was in there by herself. The power lines were stuck in the front and back of her car,” said Alexandria Jourbet.
“It was kind of smoking a little bit. I was feeling just horrible for her,” she adds.
She also wondered what she would do in a similar situation.
“I literally called my grandmother and was like ‘I don’t know what I would do if I was her,’” she said.
Southfield fire leaders say the first thing to do is put your car in park.
“We actually tell you to turn it off so we aren't overheating the engine and causing other issues,” said Captain Jason Deneau.
Next, stay inside your car. “Always treat the power lines as if they are live,” he adds.
Then call 911 and wait for officers and DTE. Captain Deneau says as of 9 p.m. on Wednesday they received about 80 calls for service.
The majority of the calls were for down wires and trees.
For perspective, he says, “on an average day for the Southfield Fire Department we respond to about 40 calls of service. The storms that came through def came through with vengeance.”
The storms left many without power. Forcing some to rely on a generator.
“That was one of the first things I did was fire it up so we can save the food in the fridge,” Acey said.
Deneau says they’ve received several generators and carbon monoxide-related calls.
“People think, ‘Oh I can just plug it into my house.’ But you need to be able to transfer that power so you are not back-feeding into Detroit Edison system because; A you might overload your generator or B you might energize lines that DTE is working on and pose a hazard to them as well,” he adds.
As of 2 p.m. on Thursday DTE says they have over 1,300 crews including contractors working to restore power.
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