Strong storms damage homes, leave residents without power in Madison Heights

Residents across the Southeast Michigan community of Madison Heights are cleaning up after strong overnight storms brought down trees, damaged homes and left thousands without power.

Among those affected was the Harris family, whose home was heavily damaged when a large tree crashed into the house around 2:30 a.m. Thursday.

Cherish Harris said she woke up to her mother screaming and immediately knew something was wrong.

"I start hearing my mom yelling, saying, 'Oh my God.' So I get up to see what happened. I just see, I open my door and the living room is destroyed. I look around, my kitchen and my bathroom is also destroyed."

Harris said the family was forced to leave the home as rain poured inside and emergency crews responded.

"I'm like, 'What do we do? What's going to happen?' There's, like, rain coming in on our house while this is happening. I was scared, shaking."

The family says the home is beyond repair and is now trying to figure out where they will live next.

Elsewhere in Madison Heights, residents woke up to fallen trees, downed power lines and widespread outages.

Gabriel Saxonger said he spent the storm in his basement and didn't realize the extent of the damage until afterward.

"I was in the basement, and I could hear it from the basement. I was wondering how bad it was gonna get. But I didn't hear anything in the house, so I figured we were okay."

When he came back upstairs, he was shocked by what he saw.

"It was just when I came out and found all of the trees and stuff down here."

For Jeanette Huff, the storm's impact became clear around 2:30 a.m.

"It was like 2:30 in the morning, and I woke up to loud bangs, and I heard the high winds. My daughter ran out of the room thinking there was a tornado, we heard sirens, power went down. I looked out the window, I saw that, and was like, 'Oh, that is what the big bang was.'"

Across the city, fallen trees and downed power lines blocked roads and damaged property. Madison Heights officials said Department of Public Services crews were out beginning at 4 a.m. and will continue debris cleanup operations through next week.

Residents say the storm was brief but intense, causing significant damage in a matter of minutes.

Many say the destruction also brings back memories of the severe storms around the Fourth of July holiday, when some neighborhoods spent days without power.

As cleanup continues, residents are hoping for a faster recovery this time around.