Return: Storm damage from the past two Saturdays

Two follow-ups tonight.

First, if you remember the tree on Navy Street in Detroit that knocked down power lines, damaged a gas line, and started a house on fire over Labor Day weekend, it turns out it still hadn't been cleaned up by yesterday.




Action News works to get Navy street cleaned up after a tree fell across it.

The City of Detroit followed through with their promise to remove the fallen tree today.

A large tree has been removed from Navy Street in Detroit, 10 days after a tree blew down and blocked their road.

I'm glad to see that WXYZ is getting some results from the City of Detroit.

Next, it turned out that Tropical Storm Lee did more locally than make basements damp (mine has finally dried out). It contributed to a roof collapse, closing five businesses in Royal Oak, three of which are still closed.

Royal Oak Patch reported on Saturday.

The roof of La Feast restaurant in downtown Royal Oak collapsed about 10:15 a.m. today, resulting in broken water and gas lines and the closure of four other businesses in the vicinity of the restaurant.

No one was injured in the roof collapse, said Royal Oak police and firefighters on the scene. Workers at the restaurant discovered the damage when they arrived this morning.
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Four other businesses – Beyond Juice, Hermann's Bakery, Shapes and Incognito – have been closed for precautionary reasons, although there doesn't appear to be damage to any of them.

Mayor Jim Ellison, who was taken above the roof for a look down on the damage, said it appeared that water had collected on the roof, and may have played a part in the collapse. He also said an air-conditioning unit was hanging precariously into the restaurant, and that fire officials needed to figure out how to remove it.

It did not appear, he said, that there was damage to the other buildings, but that the building inspector was on his way to the scene to assess that and determine whether the other businesses could reopen.

The city's building inspector allowed Incognito and Shapes to reopen later that day. The other businesses weren't so lucky, as Royal Oak Patch reported on Monday, something I confirmed with my own eyes last night when I drove up Main Street. At least the HVAC unit that was threatening to fall into La Feast had been removed.

As for when La Feast can reopen, the Royal Oak Daily Tribune quoted the manager of La Feast's Livonia location that the best case would be three weeks. The worst case would be never, at least in that location. The building might have to be demolished.

For a photograph of the damage, click on the link to the Daily Tribune article. Based on what the picture show, I would put money on the store being torn down before I'd put money on it reopening in three weeks.