WATERFORD, Mich. (WXYZ) — Severe storms swept through metro Detroit Tuesday, bringing heavy rain and powerful winds that downed trees and power lines across the region — with some of the worst damage concentrated in Waterford.
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Among those left to pick up the pieces is Mike Hayden, whose camper trailer was crushed by a massive tree that toppled into his driveway during the storms.
"You've had a lot of memories with this trailer?" I asked.
"Well, we were planning on making them," Hayden responded. "We had lots of plans to travel the states for a few years, we’ll have to regroup now."
The trailer — one Hayden and his family bought last year and spent all winter working on — is now destroyed, along with their plans for a month-long trip out west this summer.
Hayden said he was watching the rain from his porch when conditions rapidly deteriorated.
"I was sitting there and all of a sudden the wind started picking up and it kept picking up and all of a sudden it was blowing really hard, and so I ran in the house. I had windows open in the sun room, I went to close those and that's when I heard the crackling," Hayden said.
The strong winds in Waterford also brought down power lines, toppled docks and flipped a boat on Elizabeth Lake. In Oakland County, both Kensington and Stony Creek Metro Parks were forced to close due to extensive damage. On the west side of Detroit, winds blew over a gas station canopy.
Rod Goldin, also in Waterford, was watching the storm from his front window when a tree crashed into the van in his driveway and fell onto his home. The branches came within inches of going through the window where he was standing.
"It was a bad one, big time winds," Goldin said.
Goldin said the van may have actually prevented a worse outcome.
"What if this van wasn't here?" I asked.
"Oh, it (tree) would've went right onto the roof, smashed the roof and went in the window, no doubt about it," Goldin said.
With no known injuries reported, residents say they are counting their blessings.
"The thing we're thankful for is that nobody was hurt. Things are replaceable, but thank God nobody was hurt," said Hayden.
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