St. Charles residents picking up the pieces after storms, tornado
ST. CHARLES, Mich. (WNEM) – One of the communities in mid-Michigan hit the hardest by storms on Thursday night, May 15 and early Friday morning was St. Charles in Saginaw County.
Trees hurtled through homes and power lines came toppling down. For some, they had just moments to spare to get out of danger.
It was a rough night for people in St. Charles, but as we found out, it could’ve been worse.
Residents in St. Charles reflected on the overnight storms that rolled through, leaving behind plenty of downed trees and power lines in their wake.
Resident Bud Fields told TV5 the story of his good friend who was fortunate to survive the wicked winds.
“Checked on our neighbor, she had a tree come through her roof. Laying on her bed this morning, the tree is laying on her bed. She heard the sirens and got out of there and went into the center of her house, and that’s when the tree crashed down,” he said.
The woman was too upset to talk to us, but did allow our cameras inside her home.
You can the bed she had been laying on buried underneath the tree. It was a close call that she’ll live to tell about.
Meanwhile, Larry Trumble said a similar storm caused extensive damage in this area about 60 years ago.
“The same thing happened when I was real young. It went straight down this road just like this, and when it got into town, it just ripped the town up,” he said.
Brandon Hausbeck and Allie Faulknor just moved into their home about a year ago and are like many others trying to process what just happened.
“I think everyone’s overwhelmed right now. I mean, it’s kind of just everyone’s still in shock at this point. You see trees on houses, you see trees on power lines. Everyone is just driving around. Everyone is just trying to figure out what’s the next step here,” Hausbeck said.
“Take tornado warnings seriously. We thought that it was just a fluke, and it was just going to be a somewhat bad storm. But we never imagined in our wildest dreams that it would lead to this much damage,” Faulknor said.
And Jessica Barz had a plea for any gawkers thinking about stopping in her community.
“Stay out of the area if you’re not from here unless you’re here to help because there’s a lot going on, and a lot of people everywhere trying to see, just look. And we need help, not just eyes,” she said.
The Saginaw County Sheriff’s Office Emergency Management Division wants to remind residents that as you fix or replace items or improve your property due to the storm, please make sure that you’re documenting before, during, and after, these repairs. This should be with photos and written notes. Keep a detailed track of expenses and the hours of labor that were utilized for the repairs. Keep all of your receipts.
At about 5:45 p.m. on Friday, the National Weather Service confirmed that an EF-0 tornado did touch down in St. Charles, and it was on the ground for about five minutes.
It traveled through Coal Miners’ Park, which is currently closed due to the damages there.
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