In August, a tornado with wind speeds close to 100 miles per hour touched down near a Perry government building in Shiawassee County before moving through other structures and homes.
“Immediately after the tornado for the first two or three weeks, the Department of Public Works was still cleaning up tree debris,” said Perry Mayor Sue Hammond. “There was also sidewalk damage where trees toppled and their tree roots came up and pushed the sidewalk.”
The tornado also destroyed a pavilion at Veteran’s Memorial Park near Perry’s city hall, as well as one of two of the outdoor warning sirens.
This week, city officials completed the installation of the new outdoor siren. According to Perry City Councilmember Bob Porter, the siren is placed in a more centralized location and is expected to be fully functional by Christmas day.
“We're putting in a new state of the art siren and this is getting in a different location,” Porter said. “It's down by Carlton grocery store so it should cover more of the city a little bit better in the sound area.”
Since the storm, the city has also been able to clear out all the accumulated debris, replace the damaged siren, repair some of the damaged sidewalks, and replace several city flagpoles.
According to city officials, the tornado caused about $500,000 in damage.
Despite declaring a state of emergency the day following the storms, the city of Perry did not qualify for state funding because officials did not classify the damage as catastrophic.
The city has beenraising funds through its website to try and cover the $205,000 in damages that were not covered by insurance.
“To date, we've received just about $30,000 in donations, those have come from local businesses, residents who live in the area, friends who live out of town,” Hammond said.
Hammond is hopeful that additional donations will come from the community in the coming months.