At 2:17 a.m. June 6, devastation hit Dundee and the surrounding areas. An EF2 tornado touched down in the small town, bringing wind speeds of up to 135 MPH along with it.
Two houses were flattened and many torn apart as trees fell. The wind tore sidings off houses, causing debris to fly violently.
Dundee’s downtown area was damaged, leaving the core businesses, eateries and gas stations without power and examining the damage while on the phone with their insurance agents.
Businesses such as Splash Universe Hotel and Resort were less fortunate than others. Not only did it have a loss of electricity to worry about, but workers were left scrambling to patch its roof after a piece was torn off by the storm.
Many of the buildings will be out of order for a good amount of time, needing too much repair to let customers in.
With no one killed and 11 injured, the town is now focused on recovery.
On Monday, volunteers flooded the streets to aid the town.
Though many were Dundee residents and homeowners, a considerable amount were not.
Jessica Kipfmiller, a Dexter resident, worked alongside other people to remove trees and rake up pieces of the surrounding houses.
“I was on my way to school when I heard on the radio that [Dundee was] looking for volunteers,” Kipfmiller said. “There wasn’t anything at school I couldn’t miss.”
Sid Woryn of Livonia simply stated, “I didn’t have anything better to do.”
Other volunteers were already very familiar with the area, as it had been their homes that were uprooted.
Scott Gizzi, a newly-elected Dundee school board member, and his family joined the crews of tree-haulers and chippers.
Dundee students also worked wherever they could. Cassidy and Zach Kopka were among volunteers, as well as Shely Ott and her son, Matt.
DTE announced Tuesday that all power was restored to residents who lost it during the weekend storm.
Disaster relief has come in from all types of establishments for the past few days as groups such as Walgreens, Lowes in Adrian, the Red Cross, Dundee Police and State Police, Southern Baptist Convention and the National Guard join together with resources to aid Dundee families to repair the damage.
