State and federal officials survey widespread tornado damage
PORTAGE — Walking through the Oak Brook Estates mobile home park on Wednesday morning, a team of federal, state and local officials worked to paint the full picture of the destruction that occurred there just eight days earlier.
An EF-2 tornado ripped through the mobile home park shortly after 6 p.m. May 7, part of its 11-mile path of destruction that left countless trees uprooted and many homes and businesses unrecognizable. The tornado was on the ground for approximately 22 minutes that night, reaching peak wind speeds of 135mph with a maximum width of 300 yards, according to the National Weather Service.
"It’s heartbreaking, it just is," Lauren Thompson, public information officer for the Michigan State Police Emergency Management and Homeland Security Division, said Wednesday while surveying the damage. "The landscape has forever been changed, people have lost their homes, I can’t imagine what they went through as the tornadoes came through."
Wednesday's joint public damage assessment featured personnel from the MSP/EMHSD, Federal Emergency Management Agency and Small Business Administration, as well as local officials. The group was one of three teams assessing damage in Kalamazoo County, Thompson said, with additional teams surveying storm damage in Branch, Cass and St. Joseph counties.
The goal? To review the extent, severity, and impact of the storm, tornado and wind damage to homes and businesses in the affected area. In total, the teams expected to visit roughly 1,200 homes and businesses by the end of the day Thursday.
"We’re walking side by side with the state and Small Business Administration to understand the overall impacts and then we’ll take that information, provide it to the state and then the state will make a decision about whether or not they should seek federal assistance," FEMA spokesperson Mark Peterson explained Wednesday. "Given the widespread nature, the intensity (of these storms), we were very concerned about the potential loss of life and thankfully we didn’t see any of that."
The impact of the storm was evident at Oak Brook Estates, where crews continued to clear downed trees and debris on Wednesday. Many homes suffered extensive damage, with walls ripped out and portion of their roofs missing; at least one home appeared to be partially ripped from its foundation.
"What we always are concerned about in something like this is the folks that are one payment away from losing their homes or renters with no insurance," explained Andrew Alspach, public information officer for the Kalamazoo County Office of Emergency Management. "We don’t want people to be displaced or not be able to work and support their families. That’s what the concentration is now and we’ve got a pretty strong local consortium of nonprofits (offering) robust support.
"This is a really good community and it’s showing itself."
Peterson said it was important to survey the damage in person as well as talk to affected residents to gain the full scope of what they've experienced.
"In some cases, it maybe that a home, it’s not immediately apparent of the damage that they had nor is it immediately apparent that they do or do not have insurance that’s going to cover them," Peterson said. "It’s important to be on the ground, talking to the community, talking to homeowners, renters, businesses to know exactly what the need is in these communities."
Ultimately, the collected damage totals and impact data gathered this week will be used to determine whether the disaster meets established criteria that would warrant a request for a federal disaster declaration and assistance.
"The state will take that information and make a decision," Peterson said. "If they were to make a request to FEMA for supplemental assistance, there’s no set timeframe, but we certainly work as quickly as we can to get a decision back to the state."
Contact reporter Greyson Steele at gsteele@battlecreekenquirer.com
This article originally appeared on Battle Creek Enquirer: State and federal officials survey widespread tornado damage
