Survivors of Portage tornado recount panic, fear during twister that devastated Michigan city
"The door was flapping open and one of the girls went to lock it, then the hall windows shattered, and the roof was gone, basically."
Barber shop loses roof while customers, stylist shelter inside
Hair stylist Amanda Miller tells FOX Weather how she escaped injury with her customer and coworkers as a tornado tore the roof off the Portage, Michigan barber shop.
PORTAGE, Mich. – People in Portage, Michigan, told terrifying stories of surviving a tornado that they said hit with almost no warning Tuesday evening. It was the first of two tornadic storms that moved through the city just south of Kalamazoo.
Amanda Miller was in the break room at Jude's Barber Shop when she heard a commotion. She rushed out to the floor where her coworker still had a client to find a tornado on their doorstep.
"It was pretty scary and happened, really quickly, before we even knew it was coming," Miller told FOX Weather just an hour after her ordeal. "The door was flapping open and one of the girls went to lock it, then the hall windows shattered, and the roof was gone, basically."
WHAT IS A ‘TORNADO EMERGENCY’?
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Image 1 of 3Only half of the front of the strip mall was still standing after the tornado. (Jude's Barbershop)
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Image 2 of 3The roof was ripped off and the interior ceiling collapsed. (Jude's Barbershop)
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Image 3 of 3After the roof was torn off, you can see the sun despite the break room being windowless. (Jude's Barbershop)
Miller and her coworker escaped injury despite the ceiling falling in. She said the client covered the two with his body until the tornado passed.
She shared pictures of the business next door, where the inside of the offices were visible after the front wall of the building was ripped off. Several employees were trapped.
WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A WATCH AND A WARNING?
The front wall of the mall was torn off.
(Jude's Barbershop / FOX Weather)
"The girls were stuck inside for a little bit," Miller said. "But everyone made it out okay."
Miller said she plans on taking a couple of days off. After that, she thinks that she can go to a different location to work.
"That was pretty traumatizing," she said. "Luckily, we have a few other stores in the area, so I'm sure everyone will still be able to work, but I don't think our shop is going to be back anytime soon."
‘I just begged him to just leave the truck’
The tornado also destroyed the local FedEx building with workers sheltering inside.
FEDEX FACILITY DAMAGED IN MICHIGAN AS TORNADOES REPORTED ACROSS MIDWEST, OHIO VALLEY
Damage to a FedEx facility in Portage, Michigan, is seen after a tornado May 7, 2024.
(Alex Melendez/X / FOX Weather)
Josh Manning worked at a warehouse next door to the FedEx building. His wife, Hannah Hudson, was at home and saw the warning on television. She called Josh, who didn't know of the storm closing in.
"His phone hadn't alerted him yet, and I begged him to just leave the truck and get in a building," Hudson wrote in a social media post.
He listened and recorded a video of the scene he saw play out through the windows.
HOW TO FIND YOUR TORNADO SAFE PLACE
Terrifying moments sheltered in a Michigan office building
Thankfully, the windows did not blow out while the photographer was sheltering from a confirmed tornado in Portage, Michigan.
Just before he ran inside, he warned the guard at the front gate and may have saved her life.
"He told the guard to take shelter. She said she would if it got bad," Hudson continued. "Apparently she rode it out in the guard shack!"
Meanwhile, tornadic winds picked up the truck containers and tossed them around the premises.
MAY IS PEAK MONTH FOR TORNADOES IN THE US
One container was lifted off the ground and tossed on others.
(Josh Manning / FOX Weather)
"You have a semi that was thrown on top of another one," explained Meteorologist Steve Bender. "But notice this, the adjacent semis are untouched, which means this was not the adjacent one that rolled on top of it. That means this heavy semi that has to weigh tons, thousands and thousands of pounds fell on top of this one in the middle. That speaks to the intensity."
FedEx said in a statement to FOX News that no serious injuries happened at the facility.
Mobile home park sustains heavy damage
The tornado then took a toll on a nearby mobile home park.
Watch: Video shows destruction of Kalamazoo mobile home park after Michigan tornado
Video recorded at the Pavillion Estates mobile home park in Kalamazoo, Michigan, shows homes flipped upside down and stunned residents jumping out of windows as the hissing sound of gas fills the air after a tornado ripped through the neighborhood on Tuesday, May 6, 2024.
Entire sections of the neighborhood are bare, scraped of homes.
"Look at some of those trees to be on the buildings," Bender said. "Notice the trees are completely shredded. So they're not toppled over. The limbs are ripped from one another. And then you'll look at that mobile home that's in the road, itself toppled over. And a lot of these are ripped off of their foundation."
The sheriff's office said that at least 176 homes were damaged inside the Pavilion Estates Mobile Home Park near Portage, and between 16 and 20 injuries were reported across the county.
All those who were injured were taken to local hospitals, and none of the injuries were significant.
Residents told to shelter in place Wednesday
Tornado causes significant damage to FedEx facility in Portage, Michigan
Cleanup efforts are underway in Portage, Michigan, after a tornado ripped through the community on Tuesday. FOX 17 West Michigan Reporter Lauren Kummer joined FOX Weather from a damaged FedEx facility in Portage on Wednesday morning with the latest information on damage and injuries as a result of the powerful storm.
City officials in Portage said non-emergency offices would be closed on Wednesday and have told residents to stay off the roads and shelter in place.
"We have significant damage, including damage to residential and commercial buildings, trees down across many roads in the city, and several reports of gas leaks," a city spokesperson said in a statement on Facebook.
Shelters have been opened for displaced residents, and work continues to restore power. In addition, Portage Mayor Patricia M. Randall issued an emergency declaration in order to secure resources from the state and the federal government.
Officials said crews will continue to work in the hardest-hit areas of the city to assess the damage on Wednesday.
Residents who need assistance are being asked to call 211, and to not call 911 unless there is a medical, police or fire emergency.