Mayor: Portage will ‘move together forward’ after tornado
PORTAGE, Mich. (WOOD) — The mayor of Portage says she has been “overwhelmed with generosity” as the community works to recover from Tuesday night’s EF2 tornado.
Mayor Patricia Randall told News 8 that 280 buildings were damaged by the tornado, with 79 homes deemed uninhabitable.
“In those, we have hundreds of people that are displaced,” she said.
NWS confirms 4 tornadoes in Southwest Michigan Tuesday
On top of that, the storm did serious damage to the community’s infrastructure.
“We didn’t have just lines down, we had poles down, and we had poles down over railroad tracks. And we had 17 non-working traffic signals,” Randall said. “So it wasn’t just the wind that brought the trees down and demolished the houses, it really impacted our infrastructure and our ability for traffic to move.”
Around 21,000 residents lost power, which was restored Thursday, according to the mayor. With traffic signals down and sidewalks blocked, Portage Public Schools canceled classes on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
‘Thought we were gonna die’: Tornado destroys homes, businesses in Portage area
Despite the damage, the mayor says she is “so grateful” that no deaths or serious injuries have been reported.
“As the mayor, I am just trying to take the chaos and bring calm,” she said.
Recovery began with a complete assessment.
“We went house by house. We made sure everyone was OK,” Randall said. “And then we made sure that there were no live wires down, no leaking gas lines.”
Then, on Friday, volunteers gathered to help pick up brush. Around 125 people showed up, according to the mayor.
“What we are asking residents to do that would like to volunteer is to simply take the brush to the curb, and we have large trucks that are moving to clear the sidewalks, clear the bike lanes. We got it out of the road. We only have one road closed at this time, which was our hardest impacted,” Randall said. “And then we are asking residents to divide the debris into different piles. But (Friday), it’s simply about brush pickup. And we will chip those and make them into mulch.”
Portage schools call off Friday as tornado cleanup continues
Cleanup continues on Saturday. Volunteers are invited to gather at City Hall, located at 7900 S Westnedge Ave., by 9 a.m.
Randall says it’s not clear how long the cleanup will take.
“We’ve never done this before,” she said. “The more hands we have, the lighter the lift.”
And so far, Randall has been “overwhelmed with the generosity of (the) community to respond.”
“The support we’ve had from city staff willing to work 24/7, it’s been tremendous. … Our police have worked overtime, our public safety as well,” she said. “The community at large has donated pallets of water, food. Home Depot has sent a huge group of people over. They’ve sent moving boxes and packing material.”
The Kalamazoo Community Foundation and the United Way of South Central Michigan have both established disaster relief funds in the wake of the storm. Portage leaders also directed people to the Michigan Volunteer Registry to find out how they can help.
For those who are displaced, the American Red Cross has opened a shelter at First Assembly of God, located at 5550 Oakland Dr. It says 18 people stayed overnight Thursday. The Red Cross is also delivering meals in the hardest hit areas Friday.
As recovery continues, Randall wants to emphasize a message of unity.
“We will move together forward,” the mayor said. “We don’t want to leave anyone behind.”
— News 8’s Brittany Flowers contributed to this report.
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