COMSTOCK PARK, Mich. — Across northern Kent County, you'll find scenes like this:
This all happened after these winds the night before:
This wind near Pine Island and 7 Mile in Comstock Park was powerful enough to rip roofs from homes.
The wind turned out to be part of an EF-1 tornado.
READ MORE: NWS: EF-1 tornado with 110 mph winds touched down in Kent County
But perhaps the most powerful thing to happen across Kent County Thursday into Friday wasn't the storm at all. Maybe, it was the power of many hands making the heavy lifting of cleanup a little lighter.
Kaitlyn Field calls what's left of the Comstock Park neighborhood off of Pine Island and 7 Mile home.
“It’s unfortunate that it happened, but it’s been really cool to see the whole neighborhood come together. We love our neighborhood,” Field said.
Kaitlyn and her husband found themselves with idle hands and anxious energy. Not knowing what else to do, they did what many did on Friday morning.
“We've been walking around the neighborhood, picking stuff up,” Field said.
Neighbors helped neighbors further south from Comstock Park, too.
In Grand Rapids, Chelsea Eisenlohr had to pause her front yard cleanup, if only for a moment, to take this picture.
“Honestly this would have taken me and Kyle so much time. And they did it without even asking," Eisenlohr said.
Chelsea's front yard ended up being full of debris and full of people there to help.
“And truthfully we were talking about this earlier — this brought out so many of the neighbors and we got to meet them, even around the block, which was really cool. Not usually an opportunity we have often,” Eisenlohr said.
This overwhelming sense of community, Chelsea and Kaitlyn agree, is merely proof the most powerful part of a storm isn't the wreckage it leaves behind but rather the community it binds together.
“We’re an amazing community and helping clean up and ... after something like his happens, I don’t know. It’s so awful, that even just doing the bare minimum feels like a lot of work,” Kaitlyn said.
READ MORE: Severe storms in West Michigan knock out power, leave behind trail of destruction
