ALLEGAN COUNTY, Mich — Another round of severe weather caused significant damage in Otsego and Plainwell, uprooting large trees and scattering branches across yards and sidewalks.
Residents woke up to destruction Wednesday morning after straight-line winds swept through the area.
On Ninth Street in Plainwell, Mike Bronkema experienced the storm firsthand.
"We heard that coming and went to grab the kids, took them downstairs. And then when we came outside, the tree was down. It was very loud and very windy," Bronkema said.
The damage extended to Allegan Street in Otsego, where residents shared similar experiences of taking cover as the storm rolled in.
"My son-in-law is a cop with Plainwell, and he just got up and heard everything going off, and my daughter got a hold of me, says, get in the basement," Jerry Nichols said. "I got my friend and my dog in the basement. It was like 30 seconds later, and I could hear the roar. It just shook the house a little bit," Nichols said.
Another resident, Kathy Baptiste, said a large tree fell and narrowly missed her home.
"Straight line winds coming through here and they just kept getting stronger and stronger, and then all of a sudden it sounded like a train whistle, and I ran in the house," Kathy said. "And that was about a minute before the trees came down. Very lucky, very lucky, stressed out, but it's a different kind of stress this morning than it was last night. Just thinking about what could have happened. Yeah, pretty stressful. We're very lucky, very lucky."
More severe weather is expected to move through the area later this week.
This story was initially reported by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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