Memorial Day weekend got off to a stressful start for some Broward County residents, including a Pembroke Pines homeowner who felt Mother Nature’s full force.
7News cameras captured Michael Reyes making repairs to his roof Saturday, one day after rain, wind and hail pounded parts of South Florida.
“We heard the wind start to pick up, and I closed the garage door, and the door started to rattle,” said Reyes.
Reyes said he and his daughter were inside their home when fast-moving storms came through their neighborhood.
“We felt pressure from both [the] front and the rear,” he said.
When asked whether she was scared, Reyes’ daughter replied, “Yes.”
“For both of us,” said Reyes.
Father and daughter walked out to discover their backyard was destroyed, and a massive tree had toppled onto their home.
“It pierced the roof; it was right over her bedroom,” said Reyes.
The Reyes family said they are grateful they are OK, but they spent all day Saturday cleaning up a big mess on their property.
“I just serviced my rider yesterday, and so, I was able to got through and mulch a lot of this stuff up,” said Reyes.
The family is also dealing with a gaping hole in their roof, so they hope it does not rain anytime soon.
“We’re gonna try and do something for ourselves just for now, because I’m afraid that – they’re supposed to come tomorrow morning, but it may rain before then,” said Reyes.
But Reyes wasn’t the only homeowner working hard this weekend. Down his block, debris, branches and downed trees were piled outside of people’s homes.
In Miramar, the powerful winds sent objects flying. Near University Drive and Pines Boulevard, a tree fell onto a bus stop, but it has since been removed.
Over at North Perry Airport, things returned to normal after the winds flipped a small plane upside down and caused another one to come to rest on top of a fuel truck. The latter plane was left teetering on one of its wings.
It was a stormy scare for many in the region.
“Our screen porch got some holes from the hail,” said a Broward resident.
“Thank God nobody was hurt, but I have no fence right now,” said Miramar resident Joana Klaiss.