A Twister Picked Up a House and Dropped it 100 Yards Away

This past month, four twisters hit Southwest and south-central Michigan in Calhoun County, Three Rivers, Edwardsburg, and Union City, which reached an F3 rating (136-165 mph). Union City and Union Lake’s twister killed three and injured 12.

Michigan isn’t in Tornado Alley, so it may seem strange to our state’s newcomers. While fatal, these recent tornadoes are smaller than those of Michigan’s past. In 1946, a twister that varied from F3 to F5 hit the Detroit River. It almost hit the Windsor Airport and damaged hundreds of homes before it dispelled over Lake St. Clair. This tornado damaged Canada and spared Michigan. Yet Detroit trembled.

Michigan’s behemoth came in June 1953, the year the cyclones feasted on New England and the Midwest. A tornado, now named the Flint-Beecher Tornado, landed in Genesee County and travelled almost 20 miles. It killed 111 and injured around 900. This is listed in the top 10 most catastrophic tornadoes in U.S. history.

But the Flint twister wasn’t alone. Several touched ground from Tawas City all the way to Bowling Green, Ohio.

Some of the incidents in Monroe County were like scenes out of “The Wizard of Oz.” Lucy Reau was in the upper story of her home and her husband Curtis was in the kitchen when a tornado lifted their home up over the tops of trees and then threw all but the foundation 100 feet into a field.

One home had a car blown onto the roof. Another couple got out of their car and saw it lifted in the air. Real-life disasters truly are stranger than fiction.

But some of the incidents weren’t so comical.

Most photos from the 350 miles of tornado travel in Ohio and Michigan are leveled houses. One reporter compared the scenes of damage to Hiroshima and Nagasaki. But the funnel of the Flint-Beecher tornado was never shot on camera. The majority of images are demolished homes and victims in hospital beds.

There is one photograph of a tornado from that day. On June 8, 1953, John Burdo was at Lytle’s boat dock in Point Place, a Toledo suburb just below Erie, when he saw a tornado plowing through Michigan. He dashed to his car and snatched his camera, getting back to his boat just in time to photograph the funnel. It dissipated moments later. This twister killed four residents and injured 12 in Erie and Temperance. It was one of several that ravaged the Ohio-Michigan Border.

While the Flint damage was far worse with its F5 twister, Erie’s tornado was still an F4. It’s likely that if Erie and Temperance had denser populations there would have been almost as many casualties as there had been in Flint.

The twisters in Temperance took lives. The first victim was Virgie Rush. She was riding along US-24 with her husband, three children, and nephew when she saw the tornado coming their way. The family pulled off and abandoned their car, scrambling for shelter. Off the road, a trucker was hiding behind a culvert and calling out to the family to take cover with him. Just as the Rushes joined him, the tornado hit. It hit Mrs. Rush just before she could find cover.

In Erie, the Lewis family received the heaviest blow. Walter and Hazel Lewis were about to sit down for dinner in their 13-room house with their grandchildren when Mrs. Lewis heard heavy wind. Then, the cyclone hit. Hazel grabbed her granddaughter, Linda Winkler, and rushed for the basement. The grandmother received lacerations from debris, but Linda was untouched. Unfortunately, Walter, Carol Winkler, and Judy Winkler all died.

Two Toledoans, Carl Hoot and Charles Wagoner, who worked in Monroe County, saw the storm coming and decided to stick around. “To help out; if we could,” they said. They found the large Lewis home completely demolished and rescued Mrs. Lewis and Linda Winkler.

These men were WWII Navy veterans who went out of the way to help a scared girl. But it wasn’t just the National Guard, the local police, and the Toledo Police that came to help with the destruction of Monroe County. The neighbors also helped.

Even though the death count was low, many survivors lost their homes. After Leon Montri and his family survived the storm and lost their home, he looked up at the stars. The clouds had parted. “Won’t rain now,” he said. “It’ll be a good day tomorrow, too.” He took his family to a hospitable neighbor for the night.

Monroe Evening News Reporter D. V. Roberts said this about the damage done in Monroe County: “In many cases the fleeing persons by an act of God or good judgment miraculously had chosen the only section of the basement which was not filled with debris by the storm.” Residents accepted that damage was done, and they helped each other out. They were thankful to be alive.

When a tornado hits our home today, what should be our response? Is it unfair?

In Daniel Defoe’s famous novel, Robinson Crusoe reaches the shore of a desert island as the only survivor from a shipwreck. Instead of thinking what might have been, he thanks God he is alive. He wonders why he, of all the crew, was chosen.

A year later, the people of Temperance celebrated their life together. It was a gusty, cloudy day. But it didn’t rain. There were no twisters. Edward Batts, who had lost his home in the windstorm, hosted a cookout in the backyard of his new home. All but one family of the 45 people who attended the party had found a new place to live. Instead of worrying when dark clouds rolled in on the anniversary, everyone feasted in gratitude.

Chesterton once said everyone is a great Might-Not-Have-Been. Our days are numbered. Whether by twisters or bed-ridden diseases, one day we will die. But instead of shake our fists at the tornadoes that scar Michigan every now and again, we should do as Batts did: Enjoy the days we have.

The people of Temperance and Erie knew God’s providence more than at any other time in their lives. We should do the same, even when a tornado decimates that new addition we put on our home.