From left, Kadyn LaChappelle, Bruce “T.J.” LaChappelle, Ashley LaChappelle and Jessica Clark stand in front of their damaged home, in background at left, and destroyed travel trailer, at right, in Tuscola County’s Arbela Township. A tornado struck the home and parts of Tuscola and Saginaw counties on June 22. (Photo by Tom Gilchrist)
By Tom Gilchrist
Staff Writer
ARBELA TWP. — When the time came Monday night, when the tornado arrived in darkness, 11-year-old Kadyn LaChappelle just wanted his dad to hold him.
“My son was saying ‘Don’t let me go, don’t let me go. If I’m going to die, I wanna die with you, Dad,’” said Bruce “T.J.” LaChappelle, 36, whose home along Bray Road was destroyed by the twister that touched down after 10 p.m. in Tuscola County’s Arbela Township.
As the tornado whipped rocks, broken glass, dust, shards of wood and other debris through the air, Bruce LaChappelle crouched on the floor of his basement, with his girlfriend, Jessica Clark, crouching near him and Kadyn LaChappelle sandwiched between them.
“I saw rocks flying by,” said Clark, 37, who spotted chunks of the home’s stone foundation whizzing past their heads.
“I thought we were gonna die,” added Clark who, minutes earlier, had called her daughter, 17-year-old Skyler Clark of Mount Morris, with a message.
“I just called my daughter and said ‘It’s real bad, honey.’ I don’t know what’s going to happen, but we’re down in the basement and we’re trying to stay safe,” Jessica Clark said. “And I just wanted to tell you that I love you.”
Seconds passed as Clark and the LaChappelles huddled amid the roaring storm. Eventually, the fury subsided.
“We kind of stood up and said ‘Did that just happen?’” said Clark, a 1995 Mount Morris High School graduate who works as a licensed practical nurse at Maplewoods Manor in Clio.
Bruce LaChappelle tried to reach ground level but couldn’t open the jammed door at the top of the basement stairs. He rammed it repeatedly with his hips to help force it open. Seconds later, he fell into a hole about two feet wide created when the tornado lifted part of the home off its foundation.
Clark, with Kadyn LaChappelle’s help, tried to remove him from the crevice.
“He was down in that hole and he looked up and said ‘Oh my God,’” Clark said. “The whole front of the house was gone and the second story was completely gone.”
The next day, the family learned the tornado damaged homes, businesses, barns, trees, utility poles and vehicles near and along a stretch of Birch Run Road in southwest Tuscola County and southeast Saginaw County.
But their home was hit worst, according to National Weather Service officials who estimated wind speeds reached 115 mph during the tornado.
Bruce LaChappelle’s daughter, 14-year-old Ashley LaChappelle, wasn’t home when the tornado struck the residence. Bruce LaChappelle’s daughter, Courtney LaChappelle, 15, lives at a nearby residence.
None of the family members — nor any other Tuscola County residents — were seriously hurt due to the tornado.
“One hundred percent miracle,” Bruce LaChappelle said about the fact none of his family suffered serious injuries.
The tornado picked up a riding mower that had been sitting outside, and deposited part of it in the family kitchen. The twister ruined the family’s travel trailer and a Chevrolet pickup by tossing them about 15 yards and wrapping them around a large willow tree that itself was severed by the wind.
“It was emotional because we were glad to be alive, but the actual damage to the house didn’t sink in until the next day,” Clark said.
“We’re survivors,” Bruce LaChappelle told his son, Kadyn, on Wednesday afternoon after telling a reporter how the two of them barely eluded the twister. The pair spotted the funnel-shaped cloud bearing down on their home, its dark silhouette illuminated by lightning and lighter-colored clouds.
“I was downstairs but I came back upstairs thinking ‘Yeah, right’ about the tornado warning,” LaChappelle said. “My son and I saw (the tornado) about 200 yards from us. Ten seconds later it was already on us. We literally ran in the basement. I said ‘Run, run, run!’”
Bruce LaChappelle said his lower body was bruised during the storm.
“As soon as I slammed that basement door I think I fell down the stairs,” he said.
Efforts are underway to help the LaChappelle family. Kadyn and Ashley LaChappelle attend Millington Community Schools.
Workers from a Home Depot store planned to help the family clean up the property on Thursday. Visitors arrived Wednesday to determine clothing sizes for Bruce LaChappelle, Jessica Clark and the children.
Anyone wishing to donate money may write a check to “Bruce LaChappelle” and mail it to: Bruce LaChappelle, 9338 Bray Road, Millington, MI 48746.
A Facebook page named “Millington, Mi tornado relief page” provides information on how to help those affected by the tornado. Donors may drop off items at the Arbela Township Hall along Birch Run Road, or at Millington Church of the Nazarene, 8692 State Rd.
An insurance company representative viewed the damage at the LaChappelle home on Wednesday, but the family awaits more information.
While gawkers drove slowly past the residence that day, givers have emerged, too. The family is using a motor home loaned them by one good Samaritan. One woman dropped off a bag of cheeseburgers on Tuesday, while another woman delivered free pizzas and soda pop.
“I hope in some kind of way that maybe this can help somebody else, too,” Bruce LaChappelle said.
When asked what his family needed most, he thought for a few seconds. “Prayers, please,” LaChappelle replied. “You can’t go wrong with that.”