(WXYZ) — A line of severe storms early Wednesday morning brought tornado warnings and left behind damage and power outages across metro Detroit. The National Weather Service confirmed two EF1 tornadoes touched down — one in Washtenaw County and one in Wayne County.
See the latest damage in the video below
7 News Detroit has crews in areas in and around Ann Arbor, Dearborn, Ypsilanti, Downriver, Garden City and Lincoln Park, looking for damage.
Our team saw several trees uprooted, building damage and also some area flooding.
Lincoln Park
The Lincoln Park Fire Department is urging residents to report property damage and stay away from a local shopping strip with unstable walls following Tuesday night's storm.
The storm caused extensive damage near Outer Drive and Dix Highway. Lincoln Park resident Daniel Billingslea pointed out a Subway sign that blew several hundred feet away from the building.
"This is not supposed to be here, this is supposed to be over there," Billingslea said.
See some of the damage from Lincoln Park below:
On Ruth Avenue, a massive tree crashed through the middle of Ron Nayback's family RV during the height of the storm. The damage postponed the family's planned road trip to the Upper Peninsula.
"We were just loading it, starting vacation tomorrow," Nayback said.
"It is what it is, act of God. Clean it up, move on,” Nayback said.
As cleanup begins, the fire department encourages anyone experiencing damage, big or small, to report it to the city.
A spokesperson for the department says the Emergency Operation Center is up and running.
Ann Arbor
Massive cleanup is underway across Ann Arbor after extreme storms overnight caused widespread damage, leaving up to 5,000 people without power.
Remarkably, no injuries have been reported. The National Weather Service is conducting an assessment of the destruction, while emergency management officials responded to roughly 150 emergency calls. Ann Arbor schools are closed Wednesday.
The storms ripped the entire side off the Veterans' Memorial Park Ice Arena and damaged parts of the University of Michigan's Yost Ice Arena. The city is now considering whether the Veterans' Memorial Park Ice Arena can be repaired after sustaining so much damage.
Check out video of damage from across Ann Arbor below:
At Memorial Park Field, broken trees littered the area near the tennis courts and baseball field, while concession stands and porta-potties were crushed and scattered.
On the city's west side, crews worked to repair power lines and remove large tree limbs from homes. Near the Maple Village Shopping Center, a vehicle was flipped on its side.
Amy Slaven experienced a major scare at her home.
"We had a gas line break at our house. Spraying everywhere. Everyone had to get out of their houses. We couldn’t come back until about 3:30 in the morning," Slaven said.
Jennie Hahn lives near the storm damage.
"Just heard it sounded like a train. You always hear they say a big train is coming at you. So, all the lightning and thunder... So scary," Hahn said.
Lori Russo had a tree fall on her home.
"My neighbor across the street called at 3 o’clock and said, 'Are you OK?' I said 'yeah,'" Russo said. "Now, the ironic thing is I’ve always hated this tree."
"I’ve never been through anything like this. I’m just glad everyone is safe, and it could have been a lot worse," Russo said.
Ann Arbor City Administrator Milton Dohoney noted the widespread effects of the severe weather.
"Streets that are blocked. Trees that are down. Power lines that are down. Regardless of what you call it, it was a serious impact to the city. It was felt by residents and firefighters in facilities," Dohoney said.
Residents expressed gratitude that the city chose not to remove its warning sirens in favor of a different alert system.
"We surveyed the public and asked them what do you think about the idea. Overwhelmingly, they wanted to keep the system we have, so we are going to do that," Dohoney said.
Heavy equipment, generators and chainsaws could be heard across the city, including on Fairview Street, where crews focused on tree removal.
Anthony Way of Martin Tree Service is assisting with the cleanup.
"I think this is a bit more than your typical storm weather. I would say with the scale of the work, we’ll actually be here for a little while," Way said.
Ypsilanti
Cleanup is underway in Ypsilanti after Wednesday's early morning powerful storm ripped through a mobile home community, leaving a trail of debris.
Thankfully, there were no reported injuries, but the storm made a huge mess.
Some homes in the neighborhood lost parts of their roofs, and one house was taken off its foundation.
7 News Detroit reporter Tiarra Braddock caught up with Ypsilanti resident Rosie McIntyre and her son, Mathias McIntyre, as they were picking up debris from their front yard. The fence in their backyard was also ripped apart due to the storm.
"I looked around and was like 'oh my God, this is like a disaster zone,'" Rosie McIntyre said.
Rosie McIntyre said she woke up around 2 a.m. Wednesday morning, after her phone sent an alert about a tornado warning.
"We were debating if we should leave and then all of a sudden the storm sped up, and we started running to the closet because it's the only place that we thought maybe we might be safe," Rosie McIntyre said.
Mathias McIntyre noted the damage to their home.
"City officials came by, he told us, part of our foundation moved slightly, and that's about right under my room, so that's more scary for me," Mathias McIntyre said.
Following the storm, neighbors checked on one another.
"Neighbors came around and was like you ok? You ok? And I was like yeah, we're ok," Rosie McIntyre said.
Over in another neighborhood in Ypsilanti, one woman shared pictures showing a tree on top of her car that she just paid off.
Meanwhile, Rosie McIntyre said she has never seen anything like this before.
"This is the worst I ever seen," Rosie McIntyre said.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
Garden City
A broken tree brought down a power pole and live wires in Garden City early this morning, sparking a fire and leaving neighbors without electricity.
The incident happened around 2:10 a.m. near the corner of Elmwood and Hartel streets. Neighbors reported sheltering in their basements as the weather moved through the area.
"Heard some real loud wind, howling wind. I looked out my front window and there was a big flash of light," Ellen Brown said.
DTE crews arrived Wednesday afternoon to secure the scene, roping off the area on Hartel and blocking the street to keep people at a safe distance.
Crews are waiting to confirm the downed lines are no longer electrified before bringing in tree-cutting services to clear the debris and restore power.
Wayne
A city of Wayne resident had a close call Wednesday morning when severe storms knocked a large tree into her driveway, narrowly missing her home.
The incident happened just after 2 a.m. on Chestnut Street as storms rolled through the area. The falling tree knocked down a fence Sheryl Lessor shares with her neighbor.
"The sirens were going off for a tornado (warning), telling people to take cover. So, I went upstairs to get my granddaughter and my great-granddaughter to have them come down to the basement, and we were standing looking out that window up there, and all of a sudden this tree blew down into the driveway," Lessor said.
Lessor spent the rest of the day cleaning up the debris with help from her neighbors. She is thankful no one was hurt.
In Dearborn, we saw several trees uprooted in yards across the city.
See the latest weather update in the video below
Cleanup will be underway as we look ahead to another round of storms that are expected to bring heavy rain and high winds on Wednesday afternoon and evening.
According to the latest numbers on the DTE Outage Map, there are more than 18,000 people without power, with the largest swaths of outages in Washtenaw County and Southern Wayne County. Stay at least 25 feet away from a downed power line and assume all downed power lines are live and dangerous. Be sure to call 911 if there is an emergency or report a power line problem in outage center.
The storms are also forcing the closure of Ann Arbor Public Schools. The district said that there are power outages across the district and some schools sustained structural damage from the storms.
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This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
