Storm rocks Metro Detroit, tearing off roofs and uprooting trees

FERNDALE, Mich. (CBS DETROIT) – Strong storms hit Ferndale Wednesday afternoon. Nearly 70 mph winds ripped trees from the ground, took roofs off of buildings and left debris scattered near the area of Nine Mile Road and Paxton Avenue.

“Roofs are on the floor, power lines are down it was crazy,” said one Ferndale resident. 

“You could just see the stuff flying from the top of the buildings and stuff like that,” said another.

What’s left of roofs along some buildings on Nine Mile Road didn’t come without shock to those living and working nearby.

In the neighborhoods just blocks away, home video shows trees rocking back and forth and garbage cans blowing across lawns.

“It came quick, and just like that, it was gone,” said Laura Mitchum, who said it felt like the storm lasted no more than five minutes.

She took video from her home near Ardmore and Paxton avenues.

She said she witnessed her neighbor’s tree get ripped from the ground and recalls those moments as she watched it go through the wood chipper after the storm concluded.

“I’m thinking I should be in the basement right now, but I couldn’t stop videotaping what was going on,” Mitchum said when she was watching the storm.

The Ferndale Police Department reports one injury as a result of the storms. However, it did not require a transfer to the hospital.