After tornadoes tear through west Michigan, emergency workers search through wreckage

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A day after thunderstorms and tornadoes tore through western Michigan, leaving a trail of wreckage that weather and emergency officials began evaluating Wednesday in the light of day, community leaders assured residents that they would rebuild.

"It's very tragic to see the pain on the people who lost their homes," Nick Armold, the director of Public Safety for the city of Portage, said at a Wednesday news conference. "But we will recover from that — we will help them recover from that — and until everything is set, public safety will be front and center."

Kalamazoo County — which includes Portage and the Pavilion Estates Mobile Home Community — seemed to take the brunt of the destruction, with more tornadoes reportedly hitting Indiana and Ohio, which meteorologists said is to be expected this time of year.

Three tornadoes touched down in Michigan, said National Weather Service Senior Meteorologist Nathan Marsili. One was in Portage. A second touched down in Union City, in Branch County and Centreville, in St. Joseph County.

He said a third touched down in Berrien and Cass counties.

And for the first time in Michigan, the weather service issued a tornado emergency, the highest alert level. The designation, which was created about a decade ago, indicates that catastrophic damage was imminent with a dangerous, perhaps deadly tornado headed toward populated areas.

But no one, public safety officials confidently said, had been killed.

Injuries, emergency officials said, included a handful of people who were taken to hospitals, and there was destruction to 176 homes in the mobile home park, a FedEx facility and other buildings in Portage and in St. Joseph and Branch counties.

"The early warnings saved lives," said Ernie Ostuno, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Grand Rapids, adding that the awareness building up to the dangerous weather event helped. "The warnings went out and people reacted to them."

The warning systems, police officials echoed at their news conference, worked.

Where tornadoes didn't touch down, the threat ended, in most places, by midnight.

Restoring power, clearing debris

Still, utility crews were scrambling early Wednesday to reconnect electricity to tens of thousands of homes, promising that most would have electricity restored by midnight, although many would still be without power Thursday — and perhaps beyond that.

"Tomorrow," Portage Mayor Patricia Randall said, "we're praying for a return to power."

By one count Wednesday afternoon, an estimated 27,000 homes and businesses in Michigan still were without power, as utilities, mainly Consumers Energy, said it still had about 20,000 customers without electricity.

"Our Storm Response Teams are working around the clock to restore power as quickly as possible," Consumers said, urging people to report serious concerns to 911 and by calling the utility at 800-477-5050, to stay at least 25 feet away from downed power lines and "keep children and pets away."

See the videos:West Michigan tornadoes leave path of destruction

And Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who visited Kalamazoo County, assured residents — especially those without homes — announced help was on the way.

"My heart goes out to all those affected by tonight's severe weather," the governor said, as she declared a state of emergency for southwest Michigan. "State and local emergency teams are on the ground and working together to assist Michiganders."

For many residents, the violent storms passed quickly.

Susan Sackett, of Portage, told the Free Press that when the tornado phone alert went off, the family ran to the basement, heard thumping against their ranch home, and in about 30 seconds, the danger seemed to pass, and a tree fell on top of a car — until they got a second tornado alert.

"We all went back into the basement again," she said. "That one passed, and we started assessing damage and checking in with our neighbors to make sure everyone was OK."

News reports initially said as many as 50 people were trapped in the FedEx building, but Armold clarified Wednesday and again at the news conference that when first responders from Portage arrived "nobody was injured and nobody was trapped there."

Related:West Michigan tornadoes leave multiple injuries at mobile home park, damage FedEx facility

In the worst hit areas, emergency officials began looking for residents whose whereabouts were not immediately known, and as the storms headed east, weather service officials said, they still caused damage but lost considerable potency.

There was some wreckage in metro Detroit, the weather service in White Lake Township said, mostly along the shoreline of Lake St. Clair and in parts of Macomb County, but it was nowhere near the devastation Michiganders on the other side of the state faced.

On the state's west side, several homes were flattened, smashed and torn apart. The strong winds felled trees, twisted metal, tore off rooftops and, safety officials said, in a few cases even turned a few homes upside down.

Where do you seek shelter?

Before the storm, many of the mobile home's 3,000 or so residents had left their homes and sought shelter with relatives because there was no on-site shelter, the sheriff's office said. But a few dozen residents, who had nowhere else to go, were transported to a public shelter about 4 miles away.

As a safety measure, the Michigan Manufactured Housing Commission requires mobile home communities built after 1995 to have a storm shelter on-site, and safety experts urge mobile home residents to have another place where they can go in the event of a tornado alert.

After the storms passed through, more than a dozen of the delicate manufactured homes — which are especially vulnerable to destructive twisters — appeared to have been lifted up, tossed about and rolled over on their sides.

Tornadoes, the weather service said, are some of the most lethal weather events, with the most violent ones lifting cars in the air, ripping homes to shreds, and turning broken glass and other flying debris into deadly missiles.

Brian Cizauskas, of Portage, said Wednesday that the tornado happened so suddenly, he noticed the wind pick up, then rain, then trees sway — and suddenly there was debris, siding, blowing past, and that's when he took shelter with his family in the basement.

Potentially more than 100 people were in need of shelter, Mary Beth Block, a spokeswoman for the city of Portage, told the Free Press, with displaced residents staying at the local First Assembly of God church at 5500 Oakland Drive.

A second shelter at Radiant Church, 995 Romence Road, also has been opened.

People who need help could call 211 or the Red Cross at 800-733-2767.

Block said many people have asked how they can help, including donations or with cleanup, and the city is working on a plan. However, she added, officials are asking that residents not yet try to clean up public spaces because there still could be hidden dangers, such as downed power lines.

A message: 'Rise Above'

Weather has been a problem on the western side of the state this year. In addition to the destructive tornadoes, rain and wind over the weekend in Holland damaged the flowers in the Tulip Time Festival, organizers said.

The storms, which forced cancellations, added to the annual tourist events woes.

Kalamazoo County Sheriff Richard Fuller said at least one tornado tore through the county, sweeping across the area from Texas Township, through Portage and into Pavilion Township, with "significant damage" to homes, including 15 or more that were "totally destroyed."

He described a community filled with wreckage.

Homes were in roadways and on top of other homes, as were trees, tree limbs and smashed vehicles.

More:Portage, Michigan tornado destroyed mobile homes, injured about 12

At one point, Fuller said, more than 100 first responders were in the mobile home park treating people for injuries and going door to door accounting for residents and looking for anyone who might have been harmed or missing.

And even as emergency workers were helping residents, another storm cell swept through the area.

"The good thing is we're hearing more and more," Fuller had said, adding that first responders have "done multiple searches to ascertain the information, but there was nobody in those homes that were hurt significantly."

Michigan power outage map:How to check your status after latest round of storms

The Red Cross, Fuller added, was working to find shelter for residents who lost their homes, and wireless telephone companies were trying to set up temporary networks to allow families — and anyone who might need help — to communicate.

But at the Wednesday news conference, Fuller said he was heartened by the stories he heard from residents who heeded the alerts said said that because of them, they narrowly escaped tragedy, taking cover in bathrooms and other places.

"All of those things were successes," the sheriff said, adding that one of the more hopeful things he saw on the way to the news event was a license plate that said: "Rise Above." He added: It was the perfect message "on a day like today" and is the message that "everybody can take away from this."

Staff writer Jenna Prestininzi contributed to this report. Contact Frank Witsil: 313-222-5022 or fwitsil@freepress.com.