Tornados anyone? (Detroit, Grand Rapids, Flint: tornadoes, work, house)

[Wrinkle]

I was wrong, after googling it , it was April 3, 1956. Here a utube video of the tornado.
YouTube - Grand Rapids Michigan Tornado

I can tell you this much, its something I wouldnt care to go thru again.

[Wrinkle]

According to the Stats on the footage, there were 18 killed and 340 injured and they estimated it to be an F-5, guess I was lucky to have lived thru it. I dont think back in the 50s they have the tools to check the intensity, like they do today, but I can tell folks, dont take a tornado warning lightly. Thinking back I recall the house shaking violently, and as the funnel approached, its seems like there was an orange sky in the background. It was a very strange experience. An F-5 will obliterate houses, mobile homes and throw cars like toothpicks.

[Northman]

F-1 tornado lastnight, again not too far from Grand Rapids. There you go.

[Wrinkle]

Whats really strange it seemed like from the 1956 on thru the early to mid 60s, there were a rash of dangerous tornadoes, The one that hit Hudsonville, Allendale, and GR. But I seem to recall a series of them hitting the Flint area as well in the early 60s. I guess I could research it. But seems like the one that hit flint was on Palm Sunday but am not sure.

I was a mere 9 years old but I recollect that the tornado shown in the footage must of been near the ground and a closeup shot. What I recall at the time the sirens went off, I was playing in the garage, and my mother came and got me, we headed to the basement, and being curious I got a chair and put it up to the basement window to see if I could see the funnel. I watched it approach for what seemed to be 3 or 4 miniutes.

Our house sat up on a hill (long since gone) but I watched it approach from the Southwest, it was a longer rope formation than in the picture. As it approached, it started to hail, could hear it pounding the roof, my mother grabbed me and put me under the stairwell. We were there for sometime. When it was over, I noticed the house across the street was pretty much gone except for the foundation.
I later learned that the hill actually helped as the tornado bounced up over the house so our damage wasnt nearly that significant. I remember my dad going around the garage the next day and the top layer of cement block was missing and a couple of 2/4s were driven thru the living room picture window, thru the house and out one of the bedrooms. The house was messed up, but the structure was still in tact.

They closed down many of the roads in the area and the National Guard set curfews
to prevent looting, etc and for safety.

My wife at the time which I didnt know then, lived in Muskegon but was visiting GR and were leaving the area with her parents after attending an RV show at the old stadium. They managed to get out of the area before the National guard moved in.

I didnt find out until several years later, when we moved to the Muskegon area and eventually married her several years later that our lives were that close at the time.

Anyhow, I am glad to have found the footage, it brought back a lot of memorys.

[Ibginnie]

This only goes to 1995. I'll try to find something more up to date.

Michigan Tornadoes

[gillgetter]

The F1 tornado yesterday was here in Allegan county near the town of Plainwell. No injuries.

[Genghis]

One of my earliest memories as a child was a tornado hitting near us the Detroit suburbs. This was March 1976. The electricity went out and the next morning a roof of a nearby restaurant had blown off and there were houses in the area that suffered major damage. So it does happen.

[Coldjensens]

I heard somewhere that a few years ago, a tornado hit downtown Detroit and blew windows out of the RenCen. Is that true?

[diamondgirl45]

I was on the phone with my husband in Utica last night when the tornado sirens went off. He said there was a tornado watch, but it didn't amount to anything.

[mimberly]

Yes we can get tornados. I used to work in schools and they are suppose to practice tornado drills and have a tornado plan posted. I believe from my experience which as well includes daycares when there is a warning they must go to the safe place. If you live in the Saginaw, Flint area Channel 5 is so obsessed with storms of every kind that it can get a little over the top.