Dexter Township residents rebuild their homes and reclaim their lives following tornado

Those trees provided a buffer for homeowners (and golfers) from the sounds of the more than 18,000 cars that travel the road daily.

But as each day passes, contractors get further along in fixing the damage to homes along Dexter-Pinckney Road, in the Carriage Hills subdivision, and other scattered pockets of the township and village where homes were affected by the tornado. Residents are beginning to move back in and slowly return to the lives that they enjoyed before the twister hit.

Dexter Area Fire Authority Lt. Mike Grissom was one of the many people whose home on Dexter-Pinckney Road sustained heavy damage during the tornado.

He said he was one of the lucky ones, though, because he and his family were not displaced, while several of his neighbors — and many others in the area — were.

Still, when he’s not on duty at the fire department, he’s outside working on his home and property. There's still so many things that need to be fixed and a mountain of paperwork that needs to be turned in to both his insurance company and his mortgage company.

“It’s getting back to normal,” he said of his home, which needed a new roof, siding and windows. “The grass is starting to grow.”

Grissom lives across the road from Hudson Mills Golf Course and the devastating loss of trees that once provided a buffer from errant shots.

“I’m finding golf balls in my front yard,” he said.

The golf course was closed for almost three weeks while tree and debris clean-up efforts took place. Metro Parks staff were able to open the front nine holes, but the back nine have remained closed while clean-up efforts continue. But there’s good news. The back nine at the golf course will reopen Saturday for the first time since the tornado littered the greens and fairways with debris and branches while uprooting and gnarling large thickets of trees between the holes.

Work crews were still loading large trucks and hauling off the many older trees Thursday afternoon, while grounds staff watered, replaced markers and mowed the course in time for Memorial Day weekend and the reopening.

For golfers who were familiar with the 18-hole public course before the tornado hit, but haven’t been back yet, there are some much better sight lines on some of the holes because the groves of trees that obstructed views are there no longer. But bring your sun block because those areas that used to provide a respite from the sun are gone, as is one of the bridges between the holes.

Dexter Fire Chief Loren Yates, who was the incident commander during the tornado rescue efforts, plays in a Wednesday night golf league at Hudson Mills. “All the damage was done between the holes,'' he said. "The fairways and greens are in excellent shape.”

Tom Borton, who has worked at the course for about 10 years, said he and his wife came through the path from North Territorial Road the day after the tornado. "There was a tree on the 17th fairway — a big log that came from somewhere else entirely,'' he said. "You'd look at it and say, 'How can this be?'"

Out on the front nine Thursday afternoon were Chris La Rue and his wife, Pat, from Northville. It was the first time the couple had played the course since the tornado.

“We knew about the tornado,” Chris La Rue said, but they had no idea about the extent of the damage.

He said he's been playing the course for years. "This feels like a different course to me,'' he said. "We love this place and it’s a shame this happened.”

Pat admits that she’s not a very good golfer, but said she likes to ride along and be in the woods. She brings a book and plays caddie.The two are newlyweds, having rekindled a relationship at their 50th high school reunion from Redford High School in Detroit and will celebrate their first anniversary on June 26.

All 18 holes of the course will open Saturday at 6 a.m. and the cost is $18 for nine holes and a cart or $25 for 18 holes and a cart, or $5 less if you choose to walk, Borton said. Seniors pay $15 for nine holes and a cart and $20 for 18 holes and a cart.

Meanwhile, in Carriage Hills, an area that was also heavily damaged, blue tarps still covered many roofs, and contractors and crews were seen working on home after home. On Timber Hill Court, Fred Molnar was outside moving items from his garage into a trailer parked in his driveway.

“We’re in the same spot we were in right after the tornado,” he said.

The first contractor he hired to fix his home didn’t find internal damage until two weeks ago, so the progress that was made to this point is for naught.

However, he said it could be a lot worse. “We were lucky that the additional issues were found now,” he said.

And, although the Molnars lost about 30 trees, and there’s still a lot of work to be done on his home, “I’m very thankful,” he said. “Look around. There are people who can’t live in their homes. We can.”

Molnar said there's no floor in one of the rooms, but “You adapt.” He expects life to return to normal for him and his family by the end of summer or the beginning of fall.

“It will be nice when that happens,” he said.