IONIA COUNTY, Mich. — Several buildings located on a family farm were destroyed in the stormes Saturday, as the National Weather Service confirms 3 tornadoes touched down throughout West Michigan.
One of those tornadoes is believed to have touched down near a farm on Vedder Rd in Freeport, just a few hundred feet away from the home of Sheri Stoutjesdyk and her family.
“I was out on the porch, and just watching, next I know they said it could be possible tornadoes... and it just got quiet,” Stoutjesdyk told FOX 17 Saturday evening.
“It was so calm, and all of a sudden the wind just hit.”
She could tell something wasn't right, so she quickly ushered her daughters into the basement.
“I could just see the trees in the front, they weren’t blowing towards the house, they were almost spinning," she explained.
“You could just hear the wind pounding the house.”
When FOX 17 arrived on scene, Stoutjesdyk directed our crew to a field near their home where it appeared strong winds, possibly a tornado, had left a path of bent crops and scattered debris in a straight line moving West to East.
The path sat just a few hundred feet north of their home.
“It lasted not even a minute, then it was dead calm again," Stoutjesdyk said. "So I came outside and like, there’s stuff laying everywhere.”
Their home had been spared by the storm, but her neighbor just down the road didn't fare quite as well.
“We came down here and nobody was home at the time. We called them up, told them a tornado just came through here.... you’re missing your silos, missing a roof on your barn, we made sure the cows were fine," she told FOX 17.
Crews were busy working to uncover equipment and clean up debris on site at the farm Saturday evening.
