Alpena Resident Tells His Experience with Gaylord Tornado

Alpena Resident Steve Loughery was staying in a hotel with his wife in Gaylord when the tornado rolled through on Friday.

Loughery said it was one of the craziest things he’s ever experienced. “We walked around town a little bit in Gaylord. Still the wind was blowing pretty good, the sun was shining, and we decided to go check in at the hotel,” he said. “By the time we got to our room, it was 10 minutes. The warnings came across on our phone and within a minute, off to the west, here it came.”

There wasn’t much warning before the tornado started heading their way. “There was no sirens, no nothing over there, other than that warning that came across on the phone,” Loughery said. “All of 44 seconds I got on video before all hell broke loose.”

Loughrey and his wife moved down to the basement of the hotel and waited it out with other guests. “There was a lot of people and kids running around down there and we tried to tell everybody to get away from the windows and stuff, stay in the hallway. Couldn’t have been 20 seconds we we’re outside. It was that fast.”