Multiple uprooted trees caused damage in New Baltimore following strong storms Tuesday evening.
Nicole Raeside is thankful to have walked away without a scratch. She was driving to work down Main Street in New Baltimore when two massive trees uprooted, smashing into her car. She kept driving and ended up in a front lawn.
VIDEO: Extended interview: Nicole describes the moment two trees smashed into her car
"Am I about to die? It was scary, it was very scary,” Raeside said. "I knew a tree fell on me, but all I did was panic really, really hard. Luckily the people whose lawn I drove on came out and comforted me.”
The trees that hit her have already been cut into logs, with cleanup now underway. Just around the corner, a crew from TC Tree Service was hard at work removing a massive tree that landed on a house.
"We've been quite busy," said Steven Pankiewicz with TC Tree Service. "There’s been a lot of damage around New Baltimore and the greater Chesterfield area."
It was already their fourth stop of the day, having just removed another large tree off Eric Bland’s house next door. Eric's 14-year-old son was home alone at the time when he called and said the trees had been blown over.
Chief Meteorologist Dave Rexroth explains straight-line winds that were seen during storms in metro Detroit:
“'The two trees out in the front yard where are they," Bland recalled saying to his son. "'Dad, they’re on the house!'”
It’s a phone call Eric wont forget, as he rushed home to see his son. Despite all the damage, residents in New Baltimore are still thankful this storm didn’t result in tragedy.
“I got here as fast as possible, and he was there," Eric said of coming home to his son. "Gave him a big hug, teared up a little bit and said 'man I love ya.' You just never know at the end of the day.”
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“If I had been any later or sooner, any time difference, it would have made a world of difference,” said Raeside about the tree that landed on the back of her car.
