COLDWATER TWP. – A severe weather front passed through Branch County around 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, causing severe damage to the Countryside Mobile Court at 191 North Fillmore Road in Coldwater Township.
According to owner Marilyn Ostrander, five of the 25 mobile homes were uninhabitable and four others needed repairs. “Fortunately, no one was injured,” she said.
Ostrander called in arborists to clear the road Tuesday evening. At daybreak, cherry pickers and chainsaw crews from Modert Tree Solutions and Your Guy Tree Service began removing trees and branches from homes and vehicles.
Todd Smith was standing at his door when he said he heard a tornado. The wind ripped furniture and his electric bike off the porch and spun them around. A tree fell through his front bedroom.
Another resident, who did not want to give her name, heard a roar. Visible damage to the trees showed that treetops had been torn apart and fallen onto the house and the street.
Local residents reported that the storm passed through in less than four minutes.
Joyce Goodlett was eating dinner with one of her sons when the storm hit. A tree fell through her bedroom.
On Wednesday, another son repaired the damage and waited for the claims adjusters.
Ostrander said most of the homes are uninsured. The park rents to people over 55.
Many of them are disabled and on a fixed income. “I charge $250 a month. That’s all they can afford,” Ostrander said.
Ostrander and her son walked through the park Wednesday morning, trying to help people whose homes were uninhabitable find somewhere to live.
Steve Brewster recently purchased his mobile home and was waiting for the title to be transferred. He didn’t have time to get insurance.
When arborists removed branches from his roof, he hoped that only the roof structure was damaged. The interior was intact.
Residents waited for Consumers Energy to turn the power back on. Power was expected to be restored by 9 p.m. Wednesday, according to power outage maps.
Ostrander said water and sewage are powered by a generator in the park system.
Ostrander bought the park, built in 1954, 22 years ago. A similar storm hit on August 12, 2021, leaving significantly less damage.
The dispatch center reported additional tree and storm damage near the Capri Drive-In at the airport northwest of Countryside. There was no damage between the two locations, including at Mastronardi’s 70-acre greenhouses 100 yards northwest of the trailer park.
Maximum wind speeds at the airport reached 58 miles per hour.
The heavy storms brought less than an inch of rain.
Branch County Road Commission crews removed trees from Girard Road at Dunks, from U.S. 12 at Briggs Road, from Wattles Road in Matteson Township and from the Kope Kon area of Kinderhook during the hour it took the storm to cross the county from northwest to southeast.
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Temperatures on Tuesday rose to 97 degrees with a heat index of 105 degrees just before the storm crossed the county.
The temperatures then fell to 30 degrees.
Contact Don Reid: [email protected]
