030926 ~ Michigan's Deadly Tornadoes - Michael Armitage

Deadly tornadoes ripped through Southwest Michigan over the weekend, killing four people,

including a 12-year-old boy from Edwardsburg, the youngest to die in the storms.

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer toured the area by helicopter and has now declared a state

of emergency in three Michigan counties, Cass, Branch, and St. Joseph. And she is questioning why the

National Weather Service did not issue a tornado watch in advance of those tornadoes. Was that even

possible, though given the circumstances of these storms? Let's delve into that with the former

mayor of Milen Michigan, Michael Armitage, who is now the executive director of Calhoun County 9-1-1.

Calhoun Borders Branch County, which was hit hard, but Calhoun also experienced or tornado,

and Michael issued the siren to warn his residents. Michael, how much time did you have to do that?

Describe the situation what it was like for you there. Yeah, thank you, Lucian, and

you know, first night thoughts and prayers go out to all the victims, whether the experience,

you know, the physical loss of property or the loss of life or injury. It was a very, very horrific

situation, as we all know. In Calhoun County, you know, that tornado in Union City actually lifted

just feet from the county line. It was on track, and we were very concerned that it was headed

towards our communities in Calhoun County as well. But you know, for the tornado, we did experience,

it was a week EF zero tornado, but we had at least 10 minutes lead time on that storm coming

into our county. The National Weather Service at Grand Rapids issued the tornado warning,

you know, like I said, about 10 minutes before the tornado, the storm actually hit our county.

All right, so when you talk about EF zero, that's about 85 miles per hour. I believe Edward's

Berg has been calculated at an EF 195 miles per hour, three rivers, 130 miles per hour at an EF

two, and then Union City, 150 mile per hour winds, EF three. So to the governor's point,

she's saying, why was there no tornado watch issued? A lot of people are turning this into politics,

of course. What are your thoughts? Yeah, I think you really have to take a deep dive into

look at the conditions that day. And I think, you know, the National Weather Service put out

statements ahead of time saying that there was a low chance of a tornado. But when they go and

issue a watch, for example, that is done when there's an expectation of a widespread severe weather

event over a large region. And while this storm was unusually powerful, not only this time of

year, but really any time of year in Michigan, all four of these tornadoes came from the same storm.

There weren't multiple storms across Southeast Michigan that were producing tornadoes.

And that's really what a watch is designed for is when it's expected to be, you know, a large area

covered by, you know, multiple instances of, of severe weather or tornadoes.

So when you, when you put out that siren for your community in Calhoun County, how much time before

the tornado actually hit? It was, it was about 10 minutes before between when the sirens went off

and when the tornado touched down in southern Calhoun County. And is that because these storms were

tracking upwards and you knew it was heading your way because it hit those other communities first?

Correct. And so the National Weather Service, we're actually in a unique spot in Calhoun County,

Branch County, and that southern tier of counties below us is all covered by the Northern

Indiana National Weather Service Office. So they're the ones that issued the tornado warnings

for Branch County, St. Joseph County, Cass County, where Calhoun County, we're, we fall

under Grand Rapids office, but the Grand Rapids office issued that tornado warning ahead of the storm.

And even looking into what happened in St. Joseph and Branch counties, the National Weather

Service there issued very strongly worded warnings well ahead of the storm. So what do you think could

have happened differently then? I mean, so the Southwest folks of Michigan were at the mercy

of Indiana. It sounds like Grand Rapids had a better handle on it. Why would that be?

Well, the, the, the weather service in Northern Indiana, once that tornado, once that first touched

on happened on in Cass County, they were issuing 20 warnings ahead of that storm. But you know,

it's a hard call for me, you're all just right. They're seeing on the radar and that they were

about three minutes late. And they admit that on social media about issuing that first warning

in Cass County for that first tornado. But meteorologists, they're really in a hard spot with that,

because you know, they're looking at radar. They don't necessarily have ground confirmation.

And the public can also get frustrated when the issue, you know, warnings that end up not being

actual verified tornadoes, right? We hear all the time. Well, it's just a radar.

Yeah, they can't win. Can they? We're going to complete either way.

Yeah, exactly. So I think, you know, they're looking at radar and trying to figure out, you know,

is it because they don't want to over-alert. But yeah, you know, the consequences of, of, of not

alerting are also high as well. We're talking with Michael Armitage. She is the executive director

of Calhoun County 9-1-1. If his voice sounds familiar to those of you here in Washington County,

he also is the former mayor of Miland, Michigan. We do miss you here in Washington County. But

you're giving us great insight into how this unfolded. So you don't think this has anything to do

with a cutback in services from the federal government with the national weather service, Michael.

Yeah, I personally have not seen any indication of that. I think the warnings were issued just like

they would be for any storm prior to, you know, any cuts that happen. Yeah, I will say

I support the national other service. I do feel that it's an important asset and that it should

be funded appropriately to meet their mission. But as far as having, you know, any cuts or I

don't see scientifically from a layman's perspective, at least,

anything that other than that call, you know, at the beginning of this in Cass County,

that basically suffered because of any cuts. You actually toured three rivers, Michigan,

over the weekend. What was that experience like? You know, we see, I was there for work. I want to

make sure people are aware. Please don't go to these communities just to look at the damage

yourself. They're, they're still relief efforts happening on the ground, trying to get resources

and how to restore. But with that said, I was there for, Calvin County was assisting with some

equipment there. You know, you see the images on TV and they're horrific, but actually seeing it

in person and seeing not just snapshots of what happened, but how extensive the damage is across

that community. That tornado went through the heart of three rivers, just like it did in Union

City. And it's just, it's heartbreaking to see the amount of, you just go drive down streets and

every house is missing either the second level or the roof, you know, all the trees and the

cemetery, the hit the cemetery had on, all the trees are gone. It's just, it's devastating.

Our hearts and prayers go out to those people. And I know they've got a lot of help now that

it's been declared a state of emergency and there has been a lot of supplies coming in and

God bless them. Michael Armitage, tell me about the city of Ann Arbor's plans.

We last week had an interview with the emergency services had here for the fire department.

They are considering taking out the warning systems. They say they're aging. There's 22 of

these outdoor warning systems and that perhaps the times dictate other ways of alerting people.

After seeing this, I really, I mean, I didn't feel great about this in the beginning of

this whole idea. And they're just going out and asking public opinion right now.

What are your thoughts on that? Are these outdoor warning systems? Do they still have a

viable reason for being there? Yeah, I understand the discussion. They are expensive. We had that

discussion in Calhoun County a couple of years ago. We opted to invest in our siren system

through a federal program through a loan, low interest loan to be able to add sirens and enhance

the technology. There are a lot of warning systems out there using technology such as wireless

emergency alerts. You can go to Everbridge and Washington County and sign up for emergency alerts

that are sent through the county emergency management. There are a lot of ways now to reach people

that we didn't have 20 years ago. But on the flip side of it, I also believe in having layers

of alerting. And what that means is for somebody that doesn't have the phone on them that's outside

doing activities or if there's a failure with the phone alerting system that we have multiple ways

to alert the public, I think that is very important. And I suspect that once this public

look, feedback period is done. The city of Ann Arbor will from our experience here overwhelmingly

that the public wants that extra layer of alerting in their communities because they've grown

accustomed to it. They're used to it as something that's been a steady warning system for decades.

Interesting. A low interest loan through the storm loan program. Maybe that might be an option

if that's still around for the city of Ann Arbor as well. Those discussions ongoing.

Michael, always great to talk with you and you're doing phenomenal workout in Calhoun County.

So nice to connect with you again. Appreciate your insight today. Thank you. Thank you.

Michael Armitage, the executive director of Calhoun County 9-1-1, formerly the mayor of Mylin.

I'm Lucy Ann Lance. News next, Ann Arbor's talk station, 1290-WLBY.