STORM BRINGS SEVERE DAMAGE
‘Most afraid I’ve ever been in my whole life’
White Lake residents describe strength of major Saturday winds
Barb Leskinen has never been more frightened.
A lifelong White Lake Township for over 65 years, she and her family took cover Saturday night while various pockets of southeast Michigan were ravaged by major storms.
“When it got bad, I just took cover,” said Leskinen, who lives on the private Mead Lane Court. “I couldn’t look out the windows. But we heard a lot of stuff hitting the windows and the roof. We’ve got so many windows in the back. We took cover and were watching the trees fall.
“(It was) the most afraid I’ve ever been in my whole life. I lived out here, I grew up (here). Very scary.”
Massive trees in front of her home laid on their side Sunday morning, ripped from the earth, and even portions of the paved concrete road. Numerous other trees rested on power lines.
The neighbor to the right of her residence had large trees fall and cover up an entire driveway. Across the street
from that residence, a massive tree had fallen right on a resident’s barn.
On Mead Lane, directly adjacent to Mead Lane Court, numerous neighbors were working together to chainsaw downed trees that blocked vehicles from getting into and out of the subdivision. Another neighbor with a tractor hauled the wood and other debris down the road.
A gazebo on one property was crushed by a tree. The roof of another home was crumbled.
Leskinen said the only home damage suffered was a broken window.
Hundreds of thousands lose power
Oakland County officials originally sounded severe weather sirens shortly before 8 p.m. Saturday, due to receiving a tornado warning from the National Weather Service.
Oakland County Emergency Management responded to 9-1-1 calls involving flooding, blocked roads and structural damage to homes and businesses.
Just before noon on Sunday, the state and Oakland County set up a temporary emergency center at White Lake Dublin Senior Center, 685 Union Lake Road, to assist those displaced by the storm. Shelter, cooling center, electricity and other emergency needs were provided. As late afternoon on Sunday, DTE Energy said 123,303 customers were without power while 988 field crews were in the area assessing damage. The number at the beginning of the day exceeded 135,000 customers.
A timeline for power to return remained unknown until all the damage was assessed.
“We just have to get out there and see what’s going on,” said Je’Well Pearson, a spokesperson for DTE. “It’s pretty rough out there.”
Numerous traffic lights were out the morning and afternoon on Sunday between the Woodward Loop and White Lake.
Not in Kansas anymore
Tom Eblin was in his driveway, assembling his new generator after his old one failed.
He said that at around 6:10 p.m. Saturday, winds came quickly. The power outage soon followed and affected him, his wife and child in their home on Maple Heights Drive.
Their home was not damaged, though two giant trees were ripped from the ground and on their sides.
Eblin said he and other neighbors collaborated to remove trees and other debris that blocked their street for over 100 meters, he estimated.
His parents live near Walled Lake Northern High School, fewer than 3 miles away, and they never lost power.
“It was coming in this direction as weather patterns do,” he said. “Trees were just flipping from side to side.”
Eblin’s family formerly lived in Kansas, where tornadoes are common. He said for a moment that he felt like he was in Kansas again.
“You always have that feeling (your house will get hit),” he said. “The 12 years we lived here, it was definitely the worst as far as wind and all that goes.”
A man who asked to be identified as Charlie has lived at his Maple Heights Drive home for over 40 years.
An approximate 60-foot tree only about 10-15 feet away from his home split in half, with the fallen timber falling straight down.
A spiritual man, he said “divine security” saved him and his wife.
“This was amped, the winds were on steroids,” he said. “The winds all summer long are different. I’m right away thinking, “Climate change.’”
His morning was spent picking up branches and debris, a common theme in the neighborhood. Charlie was waiting for someone to arrive to cut down the split tree beside his home, before “gravity” did it for him.