Today marks the 54th anniversary of the Palm Sunday tornado outbreak, one of the worst in Michigan's history.
53 people were killed and hundreds hurt when a dozen tornadoes touched down across the state, including Kent County.
Ed Hood was 18, at his parents' house at 6 Mile and Alpine, recovering from an ear infection. The day was warm -- he was in a t-shirt and shorts.
"All of a sudden, it started to rain really hard," said Hood.
Hood's dad saw the tornado coming, and shouted to the family to get to the outdoor tornado shelter.
"I headed to the bedroom to grab a jacket and the wall fell on me," said Hood. "Needless to say, no one made it to the tornado shelter."
Hood remembers this day as the second time he survived a violent tornado. The tornado shelter in their yard was installed after the 1956 Standale tornado. His family home lost a few shingles during that event. This time, the home wasn't so fortunate.
The Hood family was incredibly lucky to survive. Hood walked away with a cracked jaw and deep cut in his heel. His parents and brother also survived with minor injuries. That F-4 tornado, however, killed five people as it traversed 35 miles fro Allendale to Cedar Springs.
One of those dead was found by Ed and his father during the clean-up.
"She was visiting our neighbors," said Hood. "She was in the shed. My dad looked out the door, he could see it actually blow up but he didn't know anyone was in it."
Ed's parents lost their home and vehicle. With no insurance on either, they were grateful for donations from the Red Cross and other local businesses.
"My dad built the house with his own two hands back in 1945," added Hood. "It was quite traumatic for them to lose their house with no money."
The Swan Inn on Alpine was also destroyed, and a guest at the inn was killed. The inn has pictures from the devastation hanging on the wall.
The Comstock Park tornado was not the only tornado that day.
One EF-3 tornado northeast of Kalamazoo injured 17 people. In Allegan County, an EF-1 tornado killed one person in Burnips.
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