Royal Oak Begins Storm Cleanup; Nearly 5,000 Still Without Power

On Sunday, neighborhoods in Royal Oak were humming with the sound of generators and chain saws cleaning up the multitude of downed trees and branches while utility workers repaired downed power lines after a .

A little less than 4,000 customers were still without power Sunday afternoon, down from more than 5,000 customers without power late Sunday morning. DTE hoped to get most power restored by late tonight.

DTE Energy spokesman Alejandro Bodipo-Memba said about 11:30 a.m. Sunday that less than 5,000 customers in Royal Oak were still without power. He said the majority of customers should have power restored by the end of Sunday.

"Crews were out all night," he said. "We have a significant number of snapped poles and in Royal Oak and southern Oakland County."

Several residents in the Royal Oak Beverly Hills neighborhood west of Woodward and south of 14 Mile saw what they thought looked like a funnel cloud in the sky, but the National Weather Service said radar indicates it was straight line wind, sometimes called a downburst. Dopler radar, which is built to see rotation, showed no rotational signature to indicate there was a tornado in Royal Oak, said Dick Wagenmaker of the National Weather Service.  Turbulent clouds producing hard rain can sometimes "look funny" and are often mistaken for tornados, he said.

Storm catches residents off guard

Whatever it was, it caught residents enjoying a nice Dream Cruise Saturday off guard.

"The tree (branches) were swirling. The garage was swaying," said Wendy Baker, who lives on Seminole Drive north of Normandy. Baker and her husband Scott were hosting several families for a party when the storm hit. "The patio furniture went flying and the top of the (evergreen) tree broke off and flew toward our house."

In the same neighborhood, Eileen Beuther said she was in her home on Seminole, just east of Greenfield, when the storm hit. Straight-line winds took out trees around her house and swept away her patio furniture. "We could just see it," she said. "It's like it sucked everything right off our patio."

Julia Fisher, 18, who lives on Normandy just west of Woodward, had just gotten home from her shift at nearby and enjoying her family's Dream Cruise party when the storm hit. 

"I had just come in, sat down, got something to eat, the wind started picking up and then I saw my car was covered with branches," Fisher said. "My back window is busted out, the front windshield is pretty damaged and my tail light is out ... and

Approximately 60,000 DTE customers in southeast Michigan lost power after Saturday's severe weather, spokesman Alejandro Bodipo-Memba said, adding that Clawson and Royal Oak were among the hardest-hit areas. He said Saturday that the company hoped to have most customers' power restored by Sunday morning. "We'll have crews working throughout the night," he said.

,  trees and power lines were down in the streets and there was severe damage – the worst some residents there had ever seen.

Residents without were scrambling to keep food chilled and some packing up for the day to stay with friends or family who did have power.

The storms that swept through the area Saturday afternoon brought winds of 65 mph, forcing Royal Oak police to call off the Woodward Dream Cruise hours early so public safety officers could shift their efforts into the city's trouble spots. That effort was largely unsuccessful, as officers  on motorcycles who drove up and down Woodward imploring cruisegoers to go home were met with puzzled looks as the weather had cleared and cruisers returned to Woodward.

John MacRitchie, who lives near Normandy and Mark Orr, wrote on Royal Oak Patch's Facebook page: "Lost power and got it back after front went through. Trees/lines down. Only lost a brand new patio umbrella. Luckier than many."

Power was out on Edgar, south of Normandy, after downed power lines sparked several small fires. Tree branches brought down power lines in Fulton Park, where live power lines arced and blazed through the night. 

At least a dozen trees were reported down at , near 13 Mile and Woodward – and the center of Dream Cruise activities. Many were up rooted or snapped at the base during the powerful storm Saturday.

Royal Oak resident Kim Johnson and others wondered why warning sirens were not activated as the storm approached. "... having been at Memorial (Park) in less severe weather and having the sirens activated - why was the warning system not activated this time - with 10's of thousands of people there? So grateful no one was hurt," she wrote on Royal Oak Patch's Facebook page.

What to do

If your power is out or you see a downed power line, report it to DTE at (800) 477-4747 or online at www.dteenergy.com. You can also get an estimate of when your power will restored.

– Kevin Elliott contributed to this report.