TEXAS TOWNSHIP, Mich. — A light snow fell on the Colony Woods neighborhood Thursday, the first of fall. Still, even as the seasons turned, reminders of the May tornado could not be forgotten: a saw cutting wood for a house still under construction; a dumpster on a driveway, still full. Cones were strewn across the road.
"You couldn't walk through the neighborhood without getting sawdust in your eyes, without the smell of sawdust, without the sound of chainsaws," said JoAnne O'Rourke, a resident of Colony Woods, remembering the aftermath of the deadly storm.
Back when her neighborhood looked a whole lot worse, O'Rourke thought her township could do a whole lot better in terms of tornado response.
"We started demanding action, and the township eventually responded, not in the way we wanted," O'Rourke said. "When something like this happens, you think, ‘Oh my God, you know, somebody should run for office.'"
That somebody was herself.
O'Rourke ran for Texas Township supervisor and won, completing a successful write-in campaign during the primary election and beating the Republican incumbent by less than two percentage points in the general election.
Months removed from the May tornado, O'Rourke is now in a position of power to make the changes she wanted to see from her township this past spring.
"Immediately after something happens, that is when you need local government to kick into action to help," O'Rourke said.
The township supervisor says she'll work to create an emergency response plan and will improve upon communication with residents.
For better or worse, O'Rourke's political ascendance has been afforded by disaster. She saw the opportunity and took it, seeking to rightly steer her township as many of its residents enter a "two-generation recovery."
"Let your path find you," O'Rourke said. "So many times we go out looking, like, ‘What is it I'm meant to do?’ This path absolutely found me."
