No injuries at Frenchtown Villa but homes damaged by severe storm

FRENCHTOWN TWP. − Nobody was injured and multiple mobile homes were severely damaged by strong winds at Frenchtown Villa in Frenchtown Township during severe storms that rolled through Monroe County Thursday night.

The National Weather Service has not reported confirmation of a tornado in the area but wind gusts of up to 75 mph were forecasted. The storm caused one trailer in the mobile home community to completely roll off its foundation and cause significant damage to a neighboring trailer.

Damage to other homes in the neighborhood was reported as well as cars and trees.

According to Frenchtown Fire Chief Wendy Stevens, no deaths were reported despite quickly circulating rumors online.

"That was never even a question," Stevens said. "The trailers are bad, but the residents were coming out when we got on scene. ... One trailer was on top of the other and somebody could have easily died in it, there's no doubt about that, but we did not have any loss of life."

Monroe Community Ambulance was on scene, but there were no injuries related to the storm, Stevens said.

Frenchtown Fire was still evaluating the damage Friday morning. The community also faced severe flooding as a result of storms Wednesday and Thursday.

"The majority of the trailers are all livable," Steven said. "They have some damage − not structural, more cosmetic. But there are several where we'll be working with the Red Cross to find a way to take care of those families."

Residents in the neighborhood were briefly evacuated due to gas main breaks. Crews from Michigan Gas Utilities worked into the night and secured the lines by 2:30 a.m., Stevens said. Between 60-100 homes were evacuated as a precaution.

Only residents verified by identification were being allowed back into the park.

"They were able to shut the gas lines off to a lot of the mobile homes that had shifted and broke their gas lines open, but the problem was the two that were rolled over were blocking the area and they had to dig that one up, so it took longer," Stevens said. "We did a huge evacuation because of it."

Fire departments from Ash Township, Berlin Township, Monroe city and London-Maybee-Raisinville and the Monroe County Sheriff's Office assisted at the scene. Stevens also praised the work of Sun Communities, the management company of the park.

"They (Sun) have been here all night, moving trees, cutting things down, cleaning things up, and trying to get the residents taken care of," Stevens said. "They've been fantastic."

DTE Energy reported that amost 11,000 of its customers in Monroe County were without power Friday morning. They were among the more than 230,000 customers who remained without power throughout the utility's service area. Crews were securing reports of downed power lines throughout Monroe County and other areas.

Consumers Energy reported more than 2,000 of its customers in Monroe County were without power Friday morning. More than 180,000 Consumers customers were without power statewide. The Jackson-based utility said it expected to have most of the outages restored by Sunday.

DTE requested anyone to report downed power lines or outages and to practice safety. Stay at least 25 feet away from a downed line and don’t touch anything it touches. Assume all downed power lines are live and dangerous.

This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: No injuries at Frenchtown Villa but homes damaged by severe storm