Gaylord Michigan tornado

[upnut]

Gaylord was hit by a tornado yesterday, much damage. We have traveled that area many times, favorite stop is Jay's Sporting Goods which I am sure was in the direct path. Hope any FF members in the area are ok....

https://www.mlive.com/news/2022/05/gaylords-tornado-aftermath-blocked-roads-a-curfew-and-so-much-debris.html

Scott B.

[Corley5]

My wife's family is in the Gaylord Area.  All are safe.  A nephew had the windows blown out of the car he was in.  Another friend's daughter had her car spun around and the windows blown out while she was driving.  Both are safe with only scratches.  The destruction is extreme. This doesn't happen up here.   One fatality and 40 plus injured the last I heard.

[upnut]

So thankful there were not more injuries/fatalities! On a Friday afternoon that road was probably very busy with tourists/shoppers. For those not familiar, that stretch of road is lined with auto/atv-utv/rv dealers plus c-stores and restaurants catering to tourists and travelers. Wife showed me a drone picture of RVs piled up like cordwood, the dollar loss will be very high, but once again so thankful there were not more lives lost...

Scott B.

[Jeff]

I dont know if that was the storm that came on up here about  4:30, but it dumped a ton of water. Flooded my just planted garden, and almost overwelmed the pond overflow. Wind and hail, but not extreme, but the rain!!!

[Firewoodjoe]

I have not seen town yet but pictures. I've been cutting about 7 miles, I'm guessing as the crow flys west. So the storm went over us first. I fell my last oversize tree and it started sprinkling then. By the time I got in the truck it was windy and lightning was flying all over. I waved at dad to park his machine. He jumped out jumped in the truck and we headed out the woods rd. It was rainy and hailing so hard I had to lock it in 4 wheel. It was sandy dust just 15 min prior. We made it with no damage but I couldn't imagine what the towns folk went through. Prayers for them all.

[thecfarm]

Sad to hear.

[Ron Scott]

My daughter and son in law live in Gaylord. The tornado went over them just before it touched down. They are ok. Daughter took one of her friend's daughters to the Traverse City Hospital with multiple fractures. The local hospital was full. 2 dead and 44 injured.

Today, they helped people going through debris looking for belongings. The area was hit hard with 140 mph winds. Much damage.

2 dead; northern Michigan town cleans up from rare tornado

[Corley5]

Dee, my wife, is a mental health professional.  The agency she works for has deployed them to Gaylord today to provide counseling/therapy to those in need.  We came through Gaylord yesterday.   The damage to the commercial district west of I-75 is extreme.   The damage to the residential area east of I-75 is heart breaking 😥😭😥😭   Knottingham WAS a trailer court where the two fatalities occurred.  One of them was a well known long time employee at the Walmart and part of an old Gaylord family.  

[upnut]

Power is being restored by a small army of line workers, relief is pouring in. The Iron Pig Smokehouse-Restaurant has been open from day one serving free box lunches and bottled water to any line workers, EMTs, hospital workers, police, that show up...cudos to them. I'm sure there are many others, people respond with kindness in such a dire situation. 

Scott B.

[Corley5]

  At one point it was broadcast that no more volunteers were needed.  Private citizens with dump trailers, chainsaws, heavy equipment, etc. were showing up to help clean up.  There was concern of more injuries involving volunteers stretching the already stressed first responders even farther as well as adding to the confusion and congestion.  Support for the community is over whelming.  Power has been restored to 99% of the town.  My in-laws are on the east side and theirs came back on about 9 Saturday night.  There's still a tremendous amount of work to be done.   
  The attorney general has dispatched investigators to keep track of price gouging.  I saw no evidence of that at HD, Lowe's, or gas stations there yesterday.  I'm sure no locally owned businesses would do that to their own patrons.  It's obviously wrong and once this is over people would remember who it was that wrongly profited from the disaster.
  Crosstrac the local forestry equipment dealer was destroyed.  Pictures showed a mangled car next to a Timberpro tracked buncher and metal roofing and other debris wrapped around the head and boom.  The shop/show room/parts dept was all but levelled.  Amazingly staff came out of it with only scrapes and bruises.  

[Corley5]

Gaylord Strong | Facebook

[upnut]

Thanks for the link....The effects of this tornado will be felt for quite some time. 

As an eleven year old boy I witnessed the ravaging effects of the Palm Sunday tornadoes here in Hillsdale County. 
https://www.hillsdalehistoricalsociety.org/the-palm-sunday-tornado

 Dad had one of the few backhoes in the area along with a small bulldozer, we went from farm to farm burying dead livestock and general clean-up. Leaves quite an impression on a person...

Scott B.