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mbrew brought to you by top adMassive Tree candlewickshoppeADblueTumbles, Causes Fire and Power Outage in HP/Ferndale
(C. Proxmire, Aug. 17, 2015)
Sarah Verran and her neighbors used to call it the Poltergeist Tree.  “It was twice as big as it is now. And the canopy used to cover all four of these houses. You could see it all the way from 12 Mile and I-75 it was so tall.  It looked just like the tree from the movie poltergeist.  We used to call it the poltergeist tree. ”
The tree came down Sunday at about 4 PM.   There was no storm lisa schmidt lawhappening. No wind. And no warning.
“We weren’t home. We are out of town for the weekend. But the neighbor said they just heard a loud crash and the top part of the tree fell. That was about 4 PM.  Then at 7 PM the rest of it came down,” said Jason Verran.
“From what the neighbors say, the tree fell and knocked down a power line.  And that made one of the houses up the block catch on fire.”
Neighbors say the incident triggered a series of transformer malfunctions.  DTE crews and firefighters worked through the night and into Monday.  Power is still out for 6,000 people as of noon Monday.  DTE has not confirmed the cause of the outage.
The Verrans are still waiting for their insurance company to come.  The damage is extensive.
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Gigantic branches have come through the roof and destroyed many of their belongings.
“We’ve lived here almost 17 years,” Sarah said.  “All our stuff is crushed.  I don’t know if we’ll be able to stay here.”
There were no reported injuries, though several homes were damaged. Power is Judy_Palmer30yearsstill out in the area as crews work to repair the downed power lines.  The home is on Mapledale in Hazel Park, near the border of Ferndale.
“The neighbors got an estimate maybe ten years ago to have it removed, but it would have cost, at that time, $35,000.  They would have needed to bring in one of those big cranes, that’s how tall it was.”  The insurance company will investigate the cause, but limbs on the ground shown signs of damage in the middle, likely from insects and rotting.
The Verrans say they do not know what they need at this time, but they do have insurance and family to stay with.  This story will be updated if more information becomes available.
Editor’s Note: The story has been updated to correct the name of the street from Maplehurst to Mapledale.
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