WESTLAND, Mich. (WXYZ) — Wednesday was an evening full of cleanup throughout Westland, but for many, the damage will still be there in the morning.
Michael Schepman first learned of the storm when he saw a text from his wife while he was at work.
“The first thing I told her was, 'What am I going to do? There’s a tree on our house,” Schepman said.
Schepman was the unlucky one on the block. While trees and branches scattered the yards of his neighbors, the biggest tree of all fell right on his roof.
“I didn't see any major punctures. It's definitely messed up in a few places pretty bad and the gutters are kind of torn off on the corner there," Schepman said.
Power in the neighborhood was out too with a nearby road closed due to downed power lines. The wind had brought power poles and streetlights smashing to the ground.
“I mean that wind was, I just never saw anything like that in my life,” Westland resident Patricia Aguayo said. "I was so scared, my dog was so scared. I had to cover my dog in a a little blanket and hold him.”
On another street, Austin Graves and his coworkers were landscaping outside when the storm hit. They rushed to their trucks and waited for the storm to pass, eventually bringing out a chainsaw to clear the road of debris.
“All of a sudden this whole tree started going down, this pine tree broke over there,” Graves said. "So glad it wasn't the trees over our truck or anything. That would've hurt.”
Despite the visual damage, mostly everyone 7 Action News spoke to didn’t have severe home damage and no known injuries. Even with the lack of power and extra yard work, thankful was a word heard often.
“How thankful? I prayed so hard for so long,” Aguayo said.
“We're one of the lucky ones, so I'm very very thankful,” resident Steve Kassel said.
