Last week’s severe weather destroyed nearly 50 homes and severely damaged dozens more in Kalamazoo County in southwest Michigan, authorities said Monday.
The lost homes included 24 mobile homes near Portage, the county’s emergency management office said in an update.
The National Weather Service confirmed four tornadoes in the region on May 7, including one in the Kalamazoo area, 220 miles west of Detroit.
Michigan federal building destroyed by tornado
Federal Emergency Management Agency officials were arriving Tuesday to assess the damage in southwest Michigan.
A storm-damaged mobile home is surrounded by debris at the Pavilion Estates mobile home park, just east of Kalamazoo, Michigan, on Wednesday, May 8, 2024. On the night of May 7th, a tornado struck the area. (AP Photo/Joey Cappelletti)
“This is a traumatic event and a stressful time for many people,” Kalamazoo County Emergency Director Mike Cofman said. “This is a traumatic event and a stressful time for many people. We are very grateful that we can now begin a recovery.”
The National Weather Service said the tornado was an EF-2, meaning it had wind gusts of 111 to 135 mph.
“We were a mile an hour short of the EF-3,” Coffman said.
He said 28 people were still staying at local evacuation centers.
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“We’re trying to come up with long-term shelter for these people,” Coffman said. “Generally, the people who were there lost their homes. They can’t go back.”
