Doorbell video shows Michigan tornado leveling nearly every tree in sight

(NEXSTAR) — The doorbell camera of a Portage, Michigan home captured the power of a tornado that splintered and uprooted massive trees Tuesday.

The video, provided by a man who wanted to be identified by his first name only, Chris, showed the invisible hand of the storm flattening nearly every tree in sight.

Public schools in Portage will remain shuttered Friday as the city continues cleaning up in the wake of the storm.

The tornado, arriving with winds that reached 135 mph, toppled trees, tore the roofs off of houses, left roughly 100 families displaced and caused multiple injuries.

The high winds tore up a Portage FedEx facility, leaving roughly 50 people temporarily trapped after the damaged facility lost power in the storm.

“We have mass destruction," Kalamazoo County Sheriff Richard Fuller said after the storm. "And I have to keep reminding everybody that thankfully, there is no loss of life and that the injuries that we did see yesterday ultimately turned out pretty minor considering that many of these people were inside these homes that are demolished or inside some of these homes that were flipped up and upside down."

At least 15 mobile homes were destroyed, some thrown by the wind, with one landing on two cars.

“We got really lucky being here,” said Alan Heath, who lives at Pavilion Estates, a mobile home park east of Portage. “I’m pretty sure it was by the chance of God that it missed my trailer. If you look, the trailer is right here across the street from me are just demolished. Just gone. And now these people have lost their homes.”

In total, four confirmed tornadoes hit Southwest Michigan on Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service, prompting Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to declare a state of emergency for four counties.