An EF-1 tornado blew through a trailer park in Newport, Michigan, on Thursday, devastating the community and hurling one resident’s mobile home into the air with him still inside.
Our staff headed to Newport (Monroe County) to survey the EF-1 tornado’s damage path. Some highlights along the way was a garage completely destroyed on Newport road, several trailers sustaining roof and/or skirting damage, 3 completely destroyed, and multiple large trees… pic.twitter.com/UyGMI07JxG
— Michigan Storm Chasers (@MiStormChasers) August 28, 2023
Frenchtown resident Erik VanRiper had lived in the Frenchtown Villa Trailer Park for about four years before the tornado destroyed his trailer and almost everything he owns, according to WXYZ-TV Detroit.
“It seemed like everything was just starting to go good, you know, as far as life. And just got took away in a matter of a minute,” VanRiper said in an interview with the outlet.
VanRiper described that harrowing moments when the tornado tore through his home as it lifted the trailer into the air with him still inside, WXYZ reported.
“Before I knew it, I was airborne,” VanRiper said, per the outlet. “I went through the ceiling. I remember I just kept falling and falling and hitting the beams up in the roof. I thought I was going to be buried alive or dead, one or the other.”
“Finally everything stopped. I could hear the neighbors screaming,” he added, according to WXYZ. (RELATED: 140,000 People Without Power As Severe Storms Continue To Batter Michigan)
VanRiper, who says he prays often, made it out of his destroyed home alive and was taken to the hospital. He sustained no major injuries other than some scrapes and bruises, the outlet noted.
“I came back and they said that we could go through our things and try to salvage stuff and there was nothing to salvage,” VanRiper said, per WXYZ.
Other than his truck, VanRiper has only the clothes on his back, some clothes from his ruined trailer and some pictures of his older kids that his neighbors helped him find in the wreckage, the outlet reported.
Frenchtown Villa has relocated VanRiper to another unit temporarily, but he is unsure about his renter’s insurance policy in regards to the damage to the destroyed trailer and told the outlet that he was “starting all over again.”
VanRiper’s son has set up a GoFundMe page to assist him.