On Tuesday, May 7, two tornadoes tore through Portage, destroying 60 buildings and damaging hundreds more. The largest of the two had wind speeds of 135 mph, lasted 22 minutes and ripped a trail of destruction over 11 miles. Miraculously, there were no deaths or serious injuries.
I often talk about the statewide reach MLive has. But this column is about how we use our MLive resources for every community we cover. When a tornado hits, it's a local story brought to you by local reporters.
The support system we have – a statewide meteorologist, photographers and videographers and editors across the state – allows reporters like Aya Miller and Brad Devereaux, who live and work in the Kalamazoo area, to do local journalism when it matters most.
Here is what it’s like to cover a breaking story of this magnitude, in their own words.
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Miller: I always wanted to be a storm chaser, and I've been obsessed with tornadoes since was very little. I've always wanted to do it, but not in my hometown.
Devereaux: I live not far from where the tornado hit. As it was coming towards the area we decided to go downstairs as the tornado went by. I was chatting with work people saying, ‘Once this thing passes, I'm ready to go out.’ So I came out of the basement and took a look around, checked for other warnings and then headed out.
Miller: (Kalamazoo Gazette Editor Taylor DesOrmeau) said ‘We'll need someone to go out to Portage.’ And I was like, ‘Me, me, me – pick me,’ because I had been obsessed with tornadoes for so long. But going out to the scene, it was nothing I could ever imagine.
Devereaux: It was really chaotic – gridlock as you got closer to the scene. There’s tree limbs in the road, electric wires. As soon as I arrived that news adrenaline is pumping. I said something to a police officer like, ‘Am I cool to be here?’ and he shouts back, ‘We were just told to evacuate – we got another one coming.’ I had this minute – ‘I want this picture so bad; I have to get the story out to the people.’ But safety first. I scrambled back to my car.
Miller: I had to park about 30 minutes away (by foot) from the FedEx building. I started running because I could see the damage ahead and it was still really eerie outside. People were getting out of their cars – one person came up to me said, ‘People are trapped down there,’ and another came up and said, ‘Today is not a good day.’ I started tearing up … I was a breathless crying and I called Taylor. The first thing I said is, ‘Everything is gone.’
Miller: (DesOrmeau) said, ‘Take some deep breaths, pull it together. We can do this.’ I started to get my bearings and figure out, ‘Where is the FedEx building?’ I finally got there and saw Brad and I was like, ‘I’ve never been so happy to see anyone in my whole life.’
Devereaux: (Reporter) John Tunison was on the desk and reached out to me and said, ‘ Give me details from the scene.’ I was taking pictures and looking for people to talk to, relaying stuff as quick as possible. We see this rainbow start to come out and said, what other scenes do we need to get to? We split up at that time.
Miller: I was walking back to my car after we finished at FedEx. The first few houses I saw were completely obliterated. I was calling out – ‘Hello? Is anyone there?’ I saw a woman coming out of her house, she was in a bit of shock. We started talking about the second tornado and she said, ‘Yeah, when I got that alert, you were the only thing I was thinking about because I saw you walk by earlier.’
Devereaux: I was at the mobile home park and the families were deflated – some of their houses were gone and all of them had been evacuated for a gas leak. I was doing the core part of my job, but the highest point is connecting with the people. Here is what these people are going through – they don’t have a house anymore. It was nice to see the community coming together, people helping each other and in small ways. You started to see that even that night.
Miller: It was a weird sensation because I saw that there were no first responders (in the neighborhood). I was like, OK, I am a journalist, I am here to report. But it’s also my community, and these people might be in dire need of assistance. The first thing I need to do before I interview someone is to see if they’re OK.
Devereaux: I don't think I've ever seen this much coverage on a storm before. I think that's a testament to how important it is to have an organization like MLive and a very strong local news hub in the Kalamazoo Gazette. We were able to show the pain that people are really going through and in the process of that also taking in some of their pain. It really would not have come together at the way it had if it wasn't really a team effort.
Miller: It was more emotional than I thought it would be. There’s something about it happening where you live that completely changes the experience. # # #
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