ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Ann Arbor residents surveyed damage on Wednesday after a powerful overnight storm that may have produced a tornado, knocking down trees and power lines and ripping apart buildings.
“I got up this morning and came out here; it was a disaster,” resident Donald Walker said.
Walker said eight trees on his property came down.
“This was the first tree I saw here. I said, ‘Oh, one of the trees went down.’ And I came around the corner, and I said, ‘Oh, my God, all of them came down.’”
City officials said the storm blew an exterior wall off the hockey rink at Veterans Memorial Park and tore roofing material off several buildings. Debris from one building landed in the middle of Fourth Street.
Trees fell onto homes, cars, and roads, and security cameras at Washtenaw Dairy captured winds strong enough to topple a tree.
At Bethlehem Cemetery, an estimated 20 to 25 trees were knocked down. Downed power lines also left some residents without electricity.
“We don’t know if it was actually a tornado. The National Weather Service is on the ground in Ann Arbor. They will make that determination,” city administrator Milton Dohoney said.
The storm followed the activation of outdoor warning sirens overnight in Ann Arbor.
The city said it is no longer considering getting rid of the siren system, citing feedback from thousands of residents who raised concerns when officials previously said newer emergency alert technologies would better serve residents.
The city said the decision to keep the system was made before the overnight storms.
“Since people were asking about it, there was no reason not to go ahead and say we’re going to keep the system in place,” Dohoney said.