Ecorse woman reeling after storm uproots trees that fell on her home

ECORSE, Mich. (FOX 2) - There were many sad tales to come out of Judy Sampson's recent brush with carnage after a tree crashed through her home.

Apart from the headache of a lot of damage to her house, she said she also lost something sentimental: a tree that had been planted by her mom. 

"It's horrible. It's just devastating," she said.

"She got the tree from my uncle and she planted it here 32 years ago. It was two foot tall and we planted it and it’s kind of sentimental to my mom because she passed away two years ago and that was her tree and this big tree took it down," Sampson said.

Sampson lives in Ecorse, one of many Metro Detroit communities caught in the crossfire of a storm system that pushed through Southeast Michigan Thursday.

She was up north when she got a call from her neighbor about the damage. She came home to find three trees had fallen, including a major one onto her home.

A DTE official said gusts up to 62 mph were clocked at the airport - more than enough wind to uproot trees and cause issues for homeowners. Close to 100,000 homes lost power from the storms Thursday.

While Sampson couldn't have avoided the storm, she says the damage could have been abated by a better response from the city.

"I think this is very terrible because the city should’ve taken care of these trees a long time and they have not," she said. "One time they come out and said the trees have leaves on them so they’ll be fine and I’ve been complaining five years about these trees."

She said she had made her concerns known during city council meetings. 

The city declined to comment on Sampson's complaint. 

A gofundme has been set up to help her with repairs to the home.