KENTWOOD, Mich. (July 12, 2014) — Storms are expected to hit parts of west Michigan on Saturday evening, and that’s not good news for people in Kentwood. The neighborhood is still cleaning up from an EF 1 tornado that ripped through last Sunday evening. The storm left behind extensive damage to homes with homeowners wondering how much more they can take in the event of another storm.
“Seeing the hole in your roof is a constant reminder of what happened,” said Austin Geerlings.
Austin Geerlings said that last Sunday’s tornado that ripped through his Kentwood neighborhood left several holes in his roof. Geerlings said his family has sealed the roof the best they can, and now can only sit back and hope for the best.
“We have a sheet of plywood and then we have some plastic lining, but then we just have a tarp over it, so I just hope for no rain, but we’ve had to empty our little kiddie pool that’s under the hole in the roof. We’ve been emptying that quite a bit. Rain still gets in,” said Geerlings.
We first introduced you to John de Longepre just hours after the storm hit. We gave him a visit on Saturday to see how his roof repairs are going. He said like several of his neighbors, he is waiting for his insurance company to give the green light to the repair contractor to fix the roof.
“They did a good job tarping it up, and then they went out to help other people. They got us sealed up, but some other houses just had the trees taken off, but no tarps on them, and so the next day they were a disaster from the rain,” said de Longpre.
In a neighborhood that is dealing with the worst devastation many of them have ever seen, de Longepre said that him and his neighbors have developed a thick skin, and are ready for whatever else Mother Nature plans on throwing their way.
“We survived the tornado. Everything else is a minor annoyance compared to that. So, yes we will get better. We will get it done and we are through the worst part. I mean the tornado was the worst part, no doubt.”
Restoration crews were out again on Saturday making repairs following last Sunday’s storms.
