OCEANA COUNTY, Mich. - Capsized boats floated in Silver Lake Wednesday afternoon after a storm tore through Oceana County. Residents say the storm hit around 7:00 p.m. Tuesday night and lasted only a few minutes, but left extensive damage.
Downed trees and power lines have resulted in nearly 5,000 without power in Oceana County, according to the Great Lakes Energy utility company outage map. Great Lakes Energy is responding to outages in 24 different counties throughout Michigan.
"It was very scary," Pat Bruin said. "Once it [the storm] was done, I looked out and said, 'You know our boats gone,' never expecting it to see it upside down in the water."
Many boats along the shore were in the same shape, flipped over, with their covers torn apart.
"This is the worst one I've ever seen," Bill Nusbaum said as he toured his property covered in debris and drowned tress.
But despite the loss, many in the area have gained a little faith. Pat Bruin walked out of her Silver Lake home to see at least 10 strangers working to get her boat right side up.
"I don't even know one of the people out there," she said with a smile as she watched the men work.
"This just amazes me. It's wonderful to see people work together."
Great Lakes Energy says there are tree trimmers and line repair crews working to help restore power. As always they urge everyone to be careful, report outages, and stay away from downed power lines.
►Make it easy to keep up to date with more stories like this. Download the WZZM 13 app now.
Have a news tip? Email news@wzzm13.com, visit our Facebook page or Twitter.