Oak Brook Estates trashed by Portage tornado, mobile home flipped

Taking stock of the shingles and bits of insulation at his feet, of the homes of his neighbors missing their roofs, Don Frisinger felt "a little bit" guilty.

“We're lucky. We were very lucky,” Frisinger told FOX 17. “We didn't get touched at all."

On Tuesday evening, devastating winds ripped through Portage, damaging neighborhoods like Oak Brook Estates, with the National Weather Service confirming the storm system produced an EF-2 tornado.

In Frisinger's four-street neighborhood, one home was lifted off its foundation and flipped onto its side.

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“We both thought we were goners,” said Frisinger, describing how he and his wive survived. Stuck inside their neighborhood, they took shelter in a closet located in the center of their home. Sires blared overhead.

They laid and listened.

“Sounded like a vacuum cleaner,” Frisinger said. “I just feel so sorry.”

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On Wednesday, help came to Oak Brook Estates with willing hands, passing out food, picking up and repairing the area for free.

“I was worried for her,” said Tyler Pierce, whose grandmother’s home was hit by the tornado, damaging her roof.

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In the afternoon sun, Pierce and a friend carried belongings out of her house, packing them away for safekeeping.

“She’s in need,” said Nolan Bloomquist, Pierce’s friend. “Everybody that didn’t get hit, get out there and help people that did.”

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