Neighborhood near Silver Lake hit by damage, power outages following storm

GREEN OAK TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WXYZ) — A Livingston County neighborhood woke up without power after severe weather Monday evening.

The neighborhood, located near Silverside and Doane drives in Green Oak Township, was filled with crews working on cleanup Tuesday afternoon.

“I was upstairs with the air conditioning and fan on, so I didn't really hear anything, really” said Deborah Wirwille, recounting the storm. “It was really fun. Everyone was having a good time and then woosh! it's crazy. We have a lot of predominant winds on this side of the lake anyway, but it's like crazy wind.”

Some boats and docks were damaged by the strong winds. There were also several uprooted trees that took down power lines and fell on a garage and vehicles.

VIDEO: Hear more from neighbor Deborah Wirwille

Hear more from neighbor Deborah Wirwille

“It’s a little hard to swallow.” said Bob Pregitzer who lives in the area.

Pregitzer spoke with 7 News Detroit outside his sister's home, which is attached to a now-destroyed garage. He says the storm shook her up a bit. In addition to losing power during the heatwave, Pregitzer said he also lost a vehicle in the storm.

“When you came out and saw the size of some of these trees that had fallen on the garage, the cars, what was going through your mind,” asked 7 News Detroit reporter Whitney Burney.

“Holy smoke! It just blew my mind. Even look at that. Holy cow! Look at the garage, it's flattened,” Pregitzer said.

He says while crews work to clean up the neighborhood, his sister will stay with him and his wife nearby. While waiting for power to be restored, they will rely on a generator to cool down.

Neighbors say they're grateful things aren't worse.

“Everyone is fine. All of this can be replaced: the overturned boats, the overturned docks, but everyone is fine. Nobody was hurt and I guess that's the blessing of it all,” said Wirwille.

DTE crews spent much of the afternoon working to restore power to customers. Neighbors say they hope power will be restored by tonight or tomorrow.