Wednesday, March 8 set the record for the second highest wind storm ever recorded for the Plymouth-Canton area. Wind speeds reached 65 mph that afternoon according to local media reports.

Alex Kroll, Salem senior, found out during his fifth hour class that a tree had fallen directly on his house. He said, “I found out about the tree that fell on my house during fifth hour when my teacher told me I was called out to go home. I checked my phone and my mom texted me a picture of the tree on my house, so I met up with my sister, and we went home. At first I was in shock because up until then it was a typical Wednesday. When I got home and saw what it looked like from the front of the house, I knew it was going to be a disaster on the other side and on the second floor. I did not know the extent of the damage before I walked around; I only knew the house was going to need repair. I was worried about my cat, who is typically upstairs where most of the damage occurred.”

He also said that for the next three to four months he will not be able to live at his house. In addition, the Kroll family has to move all of the contents of their house into storage. Alex and his family will be living at a family friend’s house temporarily while the family tries to figure out what to do next. The family has the option of moving into a small condo or apartment or with his grandma until the house is fixed.  Kroll’s family is forced to figure out what they must do when they do not have a place to live for the next three to four months.

Kroll also explained that when people saw what happened on the pictures he posted on Twitter and Snapchat, they were in disbelief of the damage caused by the storm. They were surprised about how the tree shifted the whole second floor and cracked walls on the first floor. He said, “I was not able to show how much insulation there was, so people only saw the holes in the roof and what it looked like from the outside when they drove down Beck road or the pictures I posted. Some people came to my house and helped clean up the mess and move things into the garage because the wind was so powerful it was blowing grills and metal chairs around the driveway. I couldn’t thank those people enough for the helping clean up the mess. I just can’t believe that this all happened in one day because of one storm.”

The Kroll family was not the only family that was affected by this wind storm. In the Detroit area, including Plymouth-Canton, over half a million people were affected by this wind storm. Some families didn’t have power for a few days and some were affected as bad as the Kroll family. Almost everyone was either affected by this windstorm or knew of someone who was affected by the storm.

That day, March 8, has set history for the Plymouth-Canton area. Luckily, no one got killed from the second worst wind storm ever reported for this area.