MONROE COUNTY, Mich. – Strong storms swept through parts of Metro Detroit Saturday evening, downing trees, toppling power lines and damaging property across Monroe and Wayne counties.
Matt Rose, owner of Rose Tree Service in Monroe County, and his crew hit the ground running to help with the recovery effort.
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“Probably about 5:30 in the afternoon the wind started picking up and all you heard was tornado sirens,” Rose said.
The storms didn’t last long — but the damage they left behind tells a different story.
“Within 20 minutes I’d say. It did a lot of damage in 20 minutes,” Rose said.
The storms left behind splintered trees, downed wires and ripped at least one barn to shreds.
Rob Salenbien of Van Buren Township watched the storm destroy what he described as his family’s entertainment space — right before a major family milestone.
“It’s our entertainment place,” Salenbien said. “We were just hosting my family, my mom and dad is inside – their 60th wedding anniversary is coming up on April 30th, we were going to have a party here on May 3rd.”
Salenbien and his family say they are thankful no one was hurt.
As for the cleanup, Rose says crews are still working to finish up damage left by a previous storm — and now they have even more on their hands. He estimates the cleanup from this latest round of storms could take weeks.
“We were still finishing up the last storm of trees broken on houses and stuff like that,” Rose said.