Cleanup begins after latest storms topple trees, power lines; nearly 200K without power

Brian Rubel of Ann Arbor wasn't home when a massive tree fell on his home of 17 years during a powerful storm Wednesday afternoon that included 60 mile per hour winds, but hearing about the damage and seeing it in person were two different things.

“I just wanted to know how bad it was inside,” recalled Rubel, who shares the house on Ticknor Court with his wife and nephew, shortly after officials ruled the house uninhabitable on Thursday. But “seeing the master bedroom was destroyed from the outside, that was quite devastating.”

Rubel was one of several homeowners across southeast Michigan grappling with damaged homes after a line of storms ripped through the region late Wednesday afternoon, toppling power lines, breaking tree branches and uprooting trees like the one in front of Rubel's home.

A wind surge hit the Grosse Pointes especially hard, along with the Ann Arbor and Dexter area. Winds at Detroit Metro Airport clocked 65-70 miles per hour late Wednesday afternoon, according to the National Weather Service. Nearly 200,000 people were without power around 1:30 p.m. Thursday.

Robert Johnson, 58, of Detroit lives next door to where a tree came down on Bishop Street near Mack Avenue on the city's east side. With the tree still laying across the street Thursday morning, Johnson said he didn't even hear it come down but hadn't seen anything like it before.

Johnson said he loves Detroit, but between power outages and flooding — his basement has flooded three times in 9 years — the thought of moving out of the state crosses his mind every now and then.

“I know infrastructure problems are increasing across the nation and underfunded cities like Detroit seem to get hit harder,” he said. “But I think about moving... I love the city, but this always gets me thinking about it.”

A funnel cloud was spotted in the Grosse Pointes during Wednesday's storms but the weather service said it did not touch down.

"We’ve heard no indication of touchdown," said Andrew Arnold, a meteorologist with the weather service's office in White Lake Township. "There was a really good wind surge. From everything we’ve seen so far, there was just a funnel, not a tornadic touchdown."

Power outages, restoration timeline

As of 11:30 a.m. Thursday, 181,000 DTE customers were without power, up from 154,000 as of 7 a.m. Consumers Energy, meanwhile, had nearly 18,000 customers were in the dark as of 11:30, down from 22,000 earlier Thursday morning.

DTE estimates that power will be restored to 95% of customers in the dark by the end of day Saturday.

At a press conference early Thursday morning at Willow Run Airport, Joe Musallam, DTE's vice president of distribution operations, said the electric utility planned to have almost then 2,000 line workers in the field around the clock to restore service.

“As the weather system moved through, we lost 165,000 customers of which about 154,000 still remain without power,” he said. “Although 97% of our customers have power, we want the 154,000 customers to know we’re laser-focused on getting their power back.”

He said the Ann Arbor and southwest area and Metro Detroit were all hit particularly hard by the storm. “We will really be loading up on crews in those areas.”

Also Thursday, Ann Arbor city officials said they were implementing restrictions on non-essential water use due to the power outage's impact on the community's water system. The restrictions go into effect at 1 p.m. and will remain in place until further notice.

"There are no water restrictions for essential indoor water usage — drinking tap water, cooking, sanitary uses, and bathing may continue as normal," they said in a statement. "Water quality is not impacted by these restrictions, the water remains safe for all allowable uses."

However, they urge residents to refrain from running dishwashers, laundry machines or watering lawns, filling swimming pools or washing cars. They also ask homeowners to turn off automatic sprinklers and irrigation systems.

Officials said they will evaluate the restrictions Friday morning.

Cleanup begins

Michelle Gordon, 46, was in her front yard on Bishop Street near Mack Avenue on Detroit’s east side before 9 a.m. Thursday with a step ladder, trimming the bushes. A short distance away, a large tree toppled by Wednesday’s storms was strung across the street, baring its roots to the houses facing north.

In the distance, the droning of Gordon’s generator could be heard. She said she started the machine up Thursday morning after her power didn’t come on.

“This is all we can do,” Gordon said. “We just have to deal with it.”

Gordon said thinks the outages in her neighborhood are becoming more frequent.

“It seems like it happens a lot around here,” she said. “That’s why I bought my generator a couple of years ago. I got fed up with it.”

Heat, humidity forecast for rest of week

Temperatures, meanwhile, will continue to heat up for the rest of the week and there's a chance for more severe storms on Friday, though the weather service there's still a lot of uncertainty about when they'll hit.

Arnold said Friday will have a heat index of 95 to 100.

"It's going to be hot and humid," he said.

Several communities including Detroit, Dearborn and Westland will have cooling centers open through Friday to help residents avoid the heat.

"We want everyone to take extra caution in hot weather and during the times there is unhealthy air quality," said said Christina Floyd, Detroit's Acting Chief Public Health Officer.

Wednesday's storms hit less than a week after another round of storms that included tennis ball-sized hail that damaged homes, businesses and cars in southeast Michigan.

As cleanup began Thursday morning, Musallam said crews will focus on public hazards like downed wires first and then assess damage, he said.

Restoration will begin with critical customers such as hospitals, nursing homes as well as police and fire departments, Musallam said. They will then tackle the largest customer outages first and work on the single customer outages last.

“As with any weather event, our focus is the safety of our customers and our employees,” he said.

He urged the public to avoid downed power lines and to stay away from areas marked with hazard tape.

cramirez@detroitnews.com