Clean up continues in Dundee following an EF

By Andres Gutierrez

April 3, 2023 / 5:03 PM / CBS Detroit

DUNDEE, Mich., (CBS DETROIT) – Cleanup efforts continue in Dundee, where an EF-0 tornado was on the ground for about five minutes Saturday.

In that short amount of time, the tornado did a lot of damage in the village's downtown.

Forty-eight hours later and crews are still securing parts of a historic building in the heart of Dundee walloped by Saturday's tornado.

"Looked like a bomb went off. Debris all over the place. People saw debris flying through the air," said Peter Bonfiglio, a Dundee resident.

Bonfiglio saw the twister before it touched down.

"I was looking out my front window I could see the storm front moving in all of sudden it picked up speed and came through it wasn't until later that I was trying to get through town that I saw the damage," Bonfiglio said.

The winds that topped 80 miles per hour blew out windows, brought down tree limbs, and partially blew off the roof of the "Cool Beanz Coffee Shop" across the street from Memorial Park.

The building is more than 140 years old, and there's real concern about whether it's structurally sound.

"Our building inspector has closed it and deemed it unsafe to be occupied at this time," said Mike Hoffmeister, Dundee's Village Manager. "A power pole fell on its roof, a transformer fell on its roof. A lot of the top facade was broken and had to come down because of it."

Despite all the damage, no one was hurt in the tornado's seven-mile path.

Dundee has seen much worse.

In 2010 an EF-2 tornado destroyed homes and buried some people under the rubble.

The village manager is grateful first responders quickly mobilized with this most twister.

"I think we handled what we were dealt with," Hoffmeister said.

Andres Gutierrez joined CBS News Detroit in September 2022. He comes from KSHB-TV in Kansas City, Missouri, serving as a general assignment reporter and fill-in anchor.

First published on April 3, 2023 / 5:03 PM

© 2023 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.