Thousands of boats lined up on Lake St. Clair for this year’s Jobbie Nooner event, but the sunny weather and clear skies quickly disappeared.

A vicious storm rolled through and wreaked havoc, and as many as 20 people were taken to the hospital, according to the Coast Guard.

“Everybody broke loose and then all the boats got tangled up and they were all ramming each other,” said Michael Straetmans.

Rob McLean was in the middle of it all with his wife and stepdaughter, Katie Pfeiffer, who started recording the storm.

“The videos don’t do it justice, that’s for sure,” Pfeiffer said.

In addition to those sent to the hospital, several others were treated on the scene.

“There was a couple of people that had gouges in their hands from trying to stop boats,” Pfeiffer said. “One guy lost his finger. Like, it was crazy.”

There was no real way out for anybody.

“We couldn’t go anywhere,” Pfeiffer said. “There’s land behind us, and there’s rows of boats in front of them.”

Their boat took a beating during the storm, also, with the anchor being ripped off and the windows on the side getting broken.

But people are grateful to be OK after a tumultuous day on the water, a situation nobody wants to experience again.

“If I see a storm coming, I’m getting the heck out of there,” Straetmans said.

