HOLLAND (WHTC-AM/FM) — Today marks 65 years since the start of a two-day tornado outbreak that caused the deaths of 17 Michigan residents, 13 in Hudsonville, and hundreds of injuries.
The tornado cut a path 48 miles long, according to investigators. Reports at the time indicated the path of damage was as wide as a football field at times.
Zeeland resident Millie Boes recounted her family’s experience — and losses — on April 3, 1956, during a call to WHTC’s Talk of the Town in 2019.
“They were going across Port Sheldon Road, and then my sister-in-law, and then her mother and my niece all got killed. That was one family,” she said. “And then one of my nieces, she was 15 months old, she survived. Her aunt was carrying her across the road. But that was three of one family.”
Their deaths happened just west of Hudsonville, Boes said.
“My brother had a farm there,” she said. “The whole barn blew away and the brooder coop blew away and they couldn’t find a chick left.”
People searching for loved ones were aided by the emergency responders from civil defense corps, Red Cross volunteers and Salvation Army members.
The National Weather Service’s pages commemorating the disaster also include the answer to whether this part of West Michigan could again see an F5 tornado: Yes.
Weather service officials said people should have a NOAA Weather Radio with a tone alert feature, and a plan that includes the safest place at home or work to be should a tornado warning be issued. They added people should practice the plan and learn the tornado safety rules should they be caught outside or in a car as a tornado heads their way.
The NWS has also declared April 7, 2021, Safe Place Selfie Day, asking people to take a photo of themselves in their designated safe place and share that on social media with #SafePlaceSelfie.
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