Whitehall hard hit by severe storms, half of local roads in its county blocked

The old oaks toppled onto houses and fell into streets, a domino effect of destruction.

On Tuesday morning, a wave of severe thunderstorms made impassable nearly half the roads in Muskegon County with downed power lines spread across many of them, according to Muskegon County Emergency Services and Michigan State Police.

Hours after these straight line winds tore through the area, Muskegon County activated its Emergency Operations Center to coordinate the cleaning up of debris, clearing of roads, and restoration of power.

If you have property that was damaged in the storm, you can submit a report to the Emergency Operations Center through their online portal .

"This sounds like a train. This is not good," said Whitehall resident Jackie Fisher, describing the wind.

Fisher and her husband, Bruce Dempsey, live on Country Club Drive, a street hard hit by the storm.

Fallen trees "punched in" the couple's garage and backyard shed, also shattering their kitchen window. In every direction, cars parked on their street were totaled and some houses had significant roof damage. Branches were everywhere but where they should have been.

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"As you can see, many of them are gone," Dempsey said about the neighborhood's oak trees.

"One of the things we loved about moving here," Fisher added.

Nearby, though, neighbors got to work, the grating teeth of chainsaws clearing a path.

"I can’t stand around, never really been that way," said Joshua Woodard, a delivery driver for Auto Value. "Honestly, it’s worth getting out, meeting people. I don’t mind the workout. I’m not afraid to get dirty.”

While driving his route near Whitehall, Woodard came across a section of road blocked by a number of trees. He and a group of mostly strangers got out of their cars and reopened the road themselves.

WXMI/Sam Landstra

"It’s a good thing to do," said Tom Robinson, trying to return home. "It ain’t going to get done by itself. Why not help out the community we live in?"

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