To put it mildly, it’s been quite a week in my hometown.
And for many folks throughout Michigan.
In a period of two days, our southeast Michigan community encountered:
- Multiple severe thunderstorms with intense rains, flooding roads and turning them into rivers
- Heat index with temperatures over 100 degrees Farenheit
- Power outages affecting over 200,000 customers for multiple days
- A tornado sweeping through, ripping off rooftops of pavillions at our community park and downing trees, many trees snapped in half
People throughout Michigan were impacted by the severe weather, with trees crashing onto homes, multiple vehicle accidents and sadly, several deaths from the storms.
The intense rainfall came in the early morning hours last Thursday, just after 2:30am.
People woke up on Friday to flooded basements, streets impassable except by canoe or kayak, and temperatures climbing to 90 degrees.
Our neighborhood street was flooded and impassable for 15 hours. Storm water reached halfway up our driveway.
Flooding in our community made the national news.
Friday night, just after 10pm, tornado sirens sounded and we headed to the basement.
We learned the next morning a tornado touched down within two miles of our home.
Thunderstorms in Michigan spawned seven known tornadoes so far. (The top photo in the story is from our community.)
I’m not sure if the National Weather Service is still investigating other possible tornado touchdowns in our state.
One of our neighbors had four feet of water in their basement. I’ve spoken with them several times over the past few days as we all clean up.
They’ve filled two dumpsters with damaged and wet stuff from their basement.
I’m good.
Tired, but glad the weather has changed to clear, sunny, and much cooler.
Our home didn’t lose power. No trees fell down, only a few branches. We had minimal damage compared to other people.
Here’s to a better next week!
