ANN ARBOR, Mich. (WXYZ) — Like much of Southeast Michigan, Ann Arbor fell victim to damage from severe storms that came through Wednesday evening.
While plenty of neighborhoods in Ann Arbor look like nothing happened, the damage was noticeable in others.
“I was at a meeting and all of a sudden, my phone started blowing up,” Ann Arbor resident Brian Rubel said.
Rubel was at work, but his nephew was home when a large tree came crashing down into his house. Thankfully, his nephew was unharmed, but the roof and parts of upstairs weren't so lucky.
“One bedroom is in pretty rough shape, but knock on wood, the rest of the house is looking OK," Rubel said.
The sound of generators was not uncommon Wednesday in Ann Arbor as fallen trees and branches brought down power lines. Ann Arbor police warned people to stay out of the Huron River after live lines fell into the water.
Lines were also strewn across the street outside St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church.
“Lightning, thunder and then pshhh, this big crash. And all the power went out like that,” said Father William Ashbaugh, the pastor of St. Thomas the Apostle.
Ashbaugh says all evening events and mass Thursday had to be canceled. The tree responsible crushed a blue car parked outside. Daniel McConnell parked his car right in front of that car.
“I saw the tree from right down the road and it was right about where I parked, so I was very nervous," McConnell said. "It was like fractions of an inch within my car... I put some decent money into my car within this last month and I would've been out of this world if something would have happened to it.”
As firefighters surveyed the damage, neighbors looked on too. The old tree that stood for decades will now be gone in a matter of days, leaving quite the mark that every homeowner hopes to avoid.
“Yeah you always have in the back of your mind that that might happen, and today it happened,” Rubel said of the tree coming down.
