On May 8, 1964, the southeast portion of Chesterfield Township was forever changed. In just 30 seconds, a tornado tore through the area along the Anchor Bay shoreline, claiming 13 lives, injuring hundreds more, leaving dozens of families homeless and causing more than $4 million in property damage.
As lessons have been learned by many amid the current ongoing pandemic, survivors of the tornado of 1964 also likely came out of the tragedy with new perspectives.
News reports following the storm provided numerous accounts of the tornado from area residents, first responders and officials. A report by United Press International offered volunteer Chesterfield Township firefighter Richard Koch’s account of the storm: “We were eating supper and we heard over the television that a tornado was coming – I looked out the window and saw the black funnel. I dashed outside, called my neighbors and my wife, who was next door, and got them inside my house in the basement,” Koch said.
“It was the blackest funnel I ever seen in my life – it was real low and close to the ground. It sounded like the whole house was being torn apart. IT sounded like a giant freight train,” said his wife, Eileen.
Felix Gowarzycki described his experience: “I never prayed so much in all my life. We saw the roof go and the chimney came down and missed us by about six inches.”
Marine City resident Sally McIntosh described the area along Jefferson Avenue as “wiped out.”
“I never saw anything so devastated in my life,” she said in the 1964 UPI report.
Two days after the tornado touched down, Detroit Free Press Staff Writer Jean Sharley reported the following account of the scene in the crowded hospital wards in Mount Clemens:
“The Wayne Forton family, of Chesterfield Township, mourns the mother, Barbara, 29, who died in Friday’s tornado. In a corner of the children’s ward at St. Joseph Hospital, Bradley Forton, 2, his head bandaged, cries endlessly for his mother. Three other injured Forton children are in another ward.
“Next to Bradley’s crib is Terry Lee Furton, 6, of 28821 Cotton Road, who escaped along with her brother, Guy, 9, and her sister, Elizabeth, 17 months.”
“Up and down the halls the stories are the same,” the article continues. “The William Broomfield family of five injured but alive. Linda, 12, at first listed dead, but then found to be alive, went to Detroit to stay with relatives Saturday. She was pinned under a tree along with her brother, Greg. A workman in the next house, Harry Marsack, 49, and his son, Rich, 19, of 32010 Lakepoint, Chesterfield Township, lifted off the tree. Marsack, hospital officials said, worked for hours, pulling out as many as six children. Then he collapsed.”
On May 23, 1964, the Detroit Free Press reported Chesterfield Township officials had announced plans to seek financial help from the state, as the tornado had nearly depleted the township budget.
After visiting the area, Gov. George Romney declared the tornado “a shocking major disaster.” President Lyndon B. Johnson expressed his regret over the disaster and said he had called for assistance.
The aftermath and response was further described in a UPI report published in the Lansing State Journal May 10, 1964:
“More than 500 National Guardsmen, Selfridge Air Force Base personnel, Coast Guardsmen, civilian authorities, volunteers and law enforcement officials from at least six surrounding counties were on the scene as daylight revealed the extent of the havoc. What amounted to martial law was in effect. Barricades were set up to prevent the curious from entering the area and the Coast Guard patrolled the water to keep out an armada of sightseers.
“A house-by-house search was inaugurated to locate additional dead or injured. From the air, the area that bore the brunt of the tornado looked like a war-ravaged battlefield. Houses were flattened. Trees were uprooted. Roofs were torn off buildings. Automobiles lay on their tops. Scores of boats were piled in a heap of jumbled wood.
“Electricity was off and there was a constant danger of explosions from gas main leaks.”
“A massive health program was in progress to prevent any outbreak of disease in the area, which was without pure drinking water,” the report continues. “Plans were made to give everyone in the area a typhoid shot.
“All residents were asked to boil water and destroy all perishable food. A tank truck full of water was brought in for use of emergency crews.
“The Red Cross and Salvation Army were on the scene to aid the victims and search crews. A small army of telephone, gas and electric repairmen descended don the area to restore service.”
By June, a relief fund had collected $161,000 for victims of the tornado.
An Associated Press article published in the Lansing State Journal Oct. 28, 1964, described the scene in the fall following the storm:
“A full season after the big wind, splintered wood and trash float in a canal of the triangular-shaped township bordering Lake St. Clair. Skeletal trees outline the sky over the southeastern Michigan community.
Today
A memorial at the Chesterfield Township Historic Village honors the victims of the tornado of 1964: Barbara Forton, 28; Joseph Giroux, 72; Anthony Lesher, 40; James Anthony Rivard, 79; Wanda Jo Sancrant, 36; Louise Sancrant, 8; David Sancrant, 4 months; Tina Marie Sancrant, 20 months; Donna Mae Soloc, 24; Wendy Lou Soloc, 6 months; Gladys Sparwasser, 63; Susan Westfall, 7, and Louis Winters, 92.
-From
The Voice