A massive tree uprooted during a Monday storm and crashed through a home on Lay Boulevard in Kalamazoo, Michigan, leaving severe structural damage and raising concerns that a gas line may have been affected. Jarrod Bailey was inside when it happened, and he said the whole house shook as the tree tore through the roof.
Bailey said he was on the stairs when the tree fell. His daughter froze and started screaming, he said, and his son panicked as the collapse tore through the house. A branch hit Bailey in the elbow during the impact. He said the damage has displaced his family, and he has been searching for his cat, Luna, since the storm.
Bailey has lived in the home since 2019, and the storm has now turned a house he and his family worked to buy into a dangerous place they cannot stay in. The damage left the roof open and the structure badly compromised, with the possible gas line impact adding another layer of concern for anyone returning to the property.
What makes the scene hardest to absorb is the gap between what Bailey built and what the storm took away in seconds. He said the family worked through bad living situations to save up for home ownership, and now he is trying to figure out where his family and pets can go while the house is made safe. For Bailey, the question is no longer what the storm broke. It is whether there is anything left to salvage before the next decision has to be made.
