KENT COUNTY, Mich. — Pine Island Elementary School officials are working to recover after Thursday's storms uprooted trees and damaged multiple classrooms.
The National Weather Service has confirmed an EF-1 tornado touched down in Kent County around 8:15 p.m. Thursday. It downed trees and powerlines, ripped a roof off a home and caused the closure of many roadways in the county. It reached windspeeds of 110 mph.
In Plainfield Township, Pine Island Elementary sustained both exterior and interior damage during this storm. In front of the school, multiple trees are uprooted on the lawn. One of them appears to have been carried more than 10 feet from its original foundation.
Inside the building, at least two classrooms were impacted by the storm. A faculty member said the sky can be seen through a hole in the roof.
ServPro is working to clean and restore the school on Friday. Northwest representative Michelle Cooper said time is of the essence when it comes to cleanup, so mold doesn't start setting in.
She said Pine Island is their priority, but that her team will be busy this weekend.
"This is the most important because, you know, it's a working school and we want to get the kids back and running," she said. "But no, the phone's going to ring all day, unfortunately. With power outages, you can run into sump pump failures, a lot of flooded basements. Unfortunately, it's just one of the things that we deal with."
Cooper said there is damage to the ceiling and floor, and that ServPro crews will be working to clean up rain that got inside the classrooms.
After speaking with us, Cooper received a call saying that crews were not headed to the school just yet due to the risk the structural damage posed.
It is unclear at this time if classes will resume in the school on Monday, but Cooper said her teams could have the school ready over the weekend.
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