One year later, many still reliving Colon tornado

COLON, Mich. -- Dawn Morrill was having a normal day on May 7 of last year, before long, that normal day turned into a nightmare in just minutes. "You couldn't fathom anything like it," Morrill recalled.

Morrill's son Jake and his father were swimming in the Saint Joseph River behind their house as the sky began to darken. The family dried off and went inside, just as an EF-2 tornado with max winds of 130 miles per hour approached.

"We could see stuff coming," Morrill explained, and we heard our ears pop, and we said we have to go to the basement now."

After the storm passed, Morrill checked out the trees across the river, all snapped like twigs, she then checked on her house, which only sustained minor damage. She thought she avoided the worst.

"Uhh, you might want to come outside and look at the front yard," Morrill remembered someone saying.

"We had two big trees come down, it look out three trucks and two cars, so we lost five vehicles that day. One of the trucks still sits in the family's front yard, crushed and without a roof.

As her family works to finish the cleanup, Morrill advises those dealing with storm damage to reach out if they are still struggling.

"Ask for help, people want to help, so ask for help.