Residents in Livingston, Washtenaw counties face storm damage without power

Vehicles, businesses and homes impacted by storms

For a few brief moments, residents in Livingston and Washtenaw counties had no idea what was going to happen when a thunderstorm turned into an intense situation.

“Skies went really dark. I was showing my wife how dark it was outside and then all of a sudden, you just hear the wind gust,” said Milan resident Micah Collins.

Homes and businesses were damaged from trees toppled over and power lines were down.

“My wife and I were kind of freaking out. We just did not know what was happening. We saw our neighbors tree come down, then we came out and looked in the front yard and saw this mess out here,” Tom Hornyak said.

More: Tracking DTE Energy power outages in SE Michigan after severe storms move through area

Thankfully the tree in front of Collins’ home fell in the opposite direction of the house, sparring him any damage.

“We were trying to get out of there. I thought it was a tornado or something,” Collins said.

Sadly, the business across the way wasn’t as lucky.

Milan was one of the cities hit pretty hard. Some of the fallen trees uprooted sidewalks near the intersection of Dexter and Ideal streets.

“Once it got going, it took everything up with it,” Collins said.

Photos: Storms thrash trees, knock out power in SE Michigan

Nearly the same situation was reported in Brighton with multiple trees falling on power lines as well.

“It’s just going to be a clean up. It’s going take time,” Hornyak said.

Unfortunately, most of the region remains without power as thousands are still in the dark as of late Wednesday night.

“First priority is getting some power in. We’ve got a baby inside. We gotta make sure breast milk is taken care of and all of that,” Collins added.

“It’s going to take time to get the power back on. So, I’m just happy everybody is ok,” Hornyak concluded.

The good news is We know that multiple crews are out hoping to get the power restored as soon as possible. The bad news is there’s no idea how long this process will take.


About the Author:

Victor Williams joined Local 4 News in October of 2019 after working for WOIO in Cleveland, OH, WLOX News in Biloxi, MS, and WBBJ in Jackson, TN. Victor developed a love for journalism after realizing he was a great speaker and writer at an early age.