Severe thunderstorms muscled through Dearborn and Dearborn Heights on Friday, tearing up trees and snapping hefty limbs like twigs as they rolled across city blocks. In Dearborn Heights, one towering tree came crashing down onto a parked car, caving in the windshield and stopping neighbors in their tracks.
Police, fire, and public works crews hustled from call to call as streets turned into obstacle courses of downed trunks and scattered branches. Blocked roads and tangled limbs kept first responders busy well into the evening.
Dearborn Heights resident Yassir Salih was still trying to process the scene after a tree slammed into his parents' vehicle. He told reporters, "I've never seen it in my life," as he stood near the wrecked car. Another neighbor, Jean Poma, pointed out that, as scary as it looked, it could have been worse. "We're really lucky," she said, as per ClickOnDetroit, explaining that the sprawling branches helped cushion the impact.
According to ClickOnDetroit, the City of Dearborn's Department of Public Works is surveying toppled trees and storm debris, while Mayor Abdullah Hammoud reported that more than 50 trees and large branches were brought down across Dearborn.
Widespread outages and safety warnings
By 7:45 p.m. Friday, DTE Energy's outage tracker showed about 264,840 customers in the dark across Metro Detroit. The utility is urging residents to treat every downed wire as live and dangerous, stay at least 20 feet away from any fallen lines, and report outages by calling 800-477-4747. If a line appears to pose an immediate threat, people should call 911 first, according to DTE Energy.
How to report damage
Both Dearborn and Dearborn Heights say crews are tackling the most urgent trouble spots first, focusing on blocked streets and any locations that could interfere with emergency access. Residents in Dearborn are asked to use the city's 311 service to report fallen trees, while Dearborn Heights residents should call the city's non-emergency dispatch at (313) 277-7400 or (313) 277-6770 to report storm damage, ClickOnDetroit notes.
Across the two cities, neighbors spent the day checking on one another, inspecting yards for damage and dragging smaller branches out of the way while municipal crews mapped out what is expected to be a multi-day cleanup. City officials and utility workers are urging patience as they work to reopen roads and restore power, and they are reminding residents to steer clear of work zones and emergency scenes until crews say it is safe.
