Officials see more than 200 buildings damaged by Muskegon County storm

It's been a week since a massive storm hit Muskegon County. People in Whitehall still face the task of cleanup. As that work continues, Muskegon County Emergency Management gets a clearer picture of how many buildings were damaged.

"It is cleaned up a lot," Whitehall Det/Lt. Brandon Mahoney told FOX 17.

Many in one subdivision in Whitehall are still dealing with the impact of last week's 70-mile-per-hour winds.

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"You can definitely see there are still extensive trees in people's backyards, still on some structures in there," Mahoney said. "Pretty extensive damage throughout the city. But the damage is more kind of localized in the southwest portion of the city."

Several homes have a red sign on their front doors: "Danger: this building is deemed unsafe for human occupancy." The houses also have red X's and "gas off" signs.

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"That section, significant damage, multiple homes damaged, several of which are totaled. Fortunate for us, no loss of life, no severe injuries, but significant damage in that area," Mahoney explained.

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Muskegon County Emergency Management has looked at 259 buildings. They show that the storm impacted 240 buildings, 20 of which are considered "destroyed."

It's unclear if these homes we saw are the same ones labeled "destroyed." Mahoney is helping with the recovery.

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"Just be patient. It's tough. I mean, there's only so much equipment to go around to clean this stuff up," Mahoney added. "It does seem like today it's moving really well. And they're able to get in and part of that is just keeping everybody out of the way."

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The Whitehall Police Department has a Facebook page where they post updates informing people where the cleanup efforts are underway so that this process can go much faster and smoother.

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