PHOTOS: Quick Burst of Strong Winds Does Major Damage to Royal Oak

In the Beverly Hills Royal Oak neighborhood in the northwest corner of Royal Oak, it looked like a tornado blew through late Saturday afternoon – . 

Whether a tornado or simply very strong winds, the powerful storm seemed to catch everyone off guard. So many people were having outdoor parties and/or at Woodward enjoying the Dream Cruise and turning a blind eye to the darkening sky and weather warnings.

But when it hit, sometime near 5 p.m., it caught everyone's attention as tents, patio furniture and tree branches started flying.

Fulton Place, a short curving street, was blocked by downed trees. A power line and branches burned in a small neighborhood park. Residents and visitors came out in droves when the storm ended, taking photos, checking on neighbors and swapping stories.

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."

Damage was also reported along the neighborhoods bordering Normandy on the east side of Coolidge and in the Vinsetta area, too. Trees were also down in city parks such as Upton, Memorial and Starr Jaycee.

Vehicles damaged by trees

Julia Fisher, 18, who lives on Normandy just west of Woodward, had just gotten home from her shift at nearby Potbelly Sandwich Works 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 there's a power line ... on my car."

Fisher said the winds were so strong that they blew two large men who were guests at their party into the hedges as they were trying to hang on to tents that had been set up for the party. 

At the same corner where Fisher's small car was parked, a man driving a van turned off Normandy onto Hillside when a large tree branch and power line dropped onto the van. No one was hurt, but the affected homes were taped off and that stretch of Normandy shut down.

It was quite an end to a beautiful, cruising week.

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