EF-2 tornado rips roof and siding off of Portage shopping center

PORTAGE, Mich. — A confirmed EF-2 tornado tore through Portage, Michigan Tuesday night, damaging houses, bringing down trees, and literally tearing the roof off a shopping center.

Two stylists and a customer found themselves trapped inside Jude’s Barbershop on Center Street in Portage when the worst of the tornado hit.

Amazingly, even as the roof and the back siding of the shopping center was torn off, all three people made it out safely.

The three inside hid in one of the few places untouched, the barbershop break room.

This Jude’s location is considered a “total loss”, and the stylists will be relocated to different shops.

Dozens of homes throughout the area were reported as damaged and more than 200 power poles were confirmed down because of the storms.

The Red Cross also set up a station in the area for those in need of food, water, and other services.