BEVERLY HILLS, Mich. (WXYZ) — The Village of Beverly Hills has declared a State of Emergency after Wednesday night's storm.
Residents spent all of Thursday working to clean up in the extreme heat. Their efforts were then hampered, however, by another round of rain Thursday.
“After that second storm came through today, there were still branches that were up in the trees that were continuing to fall," Beverly Hills resident Doug Shimmin said.
After the rain, families returned outside to continue cleanup in what some residents are calling a "war zone." It appears the village may have been hit the hardest by Wednesday's storm.
The National Weather Service told 7 News Detroit the wind speeds there were between 60 and 85 miles per hour.
"It was probably the worst storm that I’ve ever witnessed in my entire life," Beverly Hills resident Brad Peters said.
Peters told 7 News Detroit his his house was shaking Wednesday around 10 p.m. when a downburst storm came crashing down onto Beverly Hills.
He took our team inside where he showed us that, "There’s a tree limb that went through the ceiling of the kitchen. It was pretty intense for like 10 minutes."
While all of this was happening his son Zack Peters was trapped in the driveway in his car.
"As it’s going on, I don’t know what’s going on. I see lightning flashing everywhere. I hear the electrical buzz of the wires coming down," he told our team.
Down the street, Jessica Banwert and her kids were taking shelter.
"We took them into the hall because all of a sudden, everything was cracking," she said.
Her young son added, "That was kind of crazy how fast it came. Those trees probably would have crushed our house."
Trees did crush multiple houses in Beverly Hills, blocking the streets as well.
Michael Krausman took a golf kart out with his dog Thursday morning through the neighborhood.
"It’s sad. It’s truly, truly sad," Krausman said. "I had no idea it was this bad. My house, a tree fell on the roof last night."
The National Weather Service confirmed to our team that the downburst storm likely collapsed in Beverly Hills.
Downbursts can be just as impactful as tornadoes.
However, it's nothing that can keep these residents down. By daylight, they were already working together, helping their neighbors pull trees off their homes and put their community back together once again.
"Hopefully, that’s the American way, to help each other," Beverly Hills resident Liz Dawe said.
Most importantly — and rather remarkably — no injuries were reported in this storm.
