Strong winds hit south county

Riverton Fire Chief Joe Cooper looks at damage on Hawley Road

RIVERTON TWP. — Straight line winds or tornado? Either way, strong winds caused severe damage in a path through Riverton Township around 8:30 p.m. A path north to south between Stiles Road and Lakeshore Drive appears to have been impacted.

Damage on West Hawley Road.

Riverton Fire Chief Joe Cooper said he was at his house on Morton Road south of Hawley Road when he heard a loud noise. Moments later his department was paged out to a call of a blown transformer on South Lakeshore Drive. En-route Cooper discovered a barn had been destroyed and mostly in the road on Hawley Road just west of Brye Road. The barn belonged to Dave Wright and contained several vehicles.

In the meantime, fire personnel on their way to Lakeshore Drive re-routed and found it difficult to get to South Lakeshore Drive. They ended up having to take the expressway because South Pere Marquette Highway had debris and power lines down between Meisenheimer and Kistler roads.

As of 9 p.m. South Pere Marquette Highway is closed between Hawley Road and the south county line. Most of South Lakeshore Drive was being closed as well.

Two barns near Beard and LaSalle roads were reported destroyed with debris in LaSalle Road.

Duane Cooper, Chief Cooper’s dad, had severe damage at his house on Meisenheimer Road between Brye Road and Pere Marquette Highway. Several trees were uprooted in the front yard, many buildings were damaged along with a tree fort. A farm tractor was also crushed by a tree.

A house on Washington Road reported a wire had fallen on it.

Chief Joe Cooper and Lt. Doug Tiffany look at a map of Riverton Twp.

Wires were reported down on South Stiles Road.

The village of Pentwater is without power. Other readers in Eden and Logan townships have also reported power out.

Fire units are being paged out to start mapping damage. Another line of storm is coming in.

Updates to come.