Posted on Mon, Mar 19, 2012 : 5:29 p.m.
Images after the tornado: Dexter residents salvage what they can, prepare to rebuild
By Melanie Maxwell

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Blue tarps cover several rooftops Monday as crews work to salvage and clean up tornado-damaged homes in the Huron Farms subdivision in Dexter. Melanie Maxwell I AnnArbor.com
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Blue tarps cover several rooftops Monday as crews work to salvage and clean up tornado-damaged homes in the Huron Farms subdivision in Dexter. Melanie Maxwell I AnnArbor.com /calendar/photologue/photos/01 Huron Farms/cache/031912_NEWS_Tornado_Damage_MRM_01_fullsize.jpg
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A bathroom on the second floor of a Huron Farms home is exposed after tornado damaged homes in the subdivision in Dexter last Thursday. Melanie Maxwell I AnnArbor.com /calendar/photologue/photos/01 Huron Farms/cache/031912_NEWS_Tornado_Damage_MRM_02_fullsize.jpg
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A chair and window blinds have been salvaged from a Huron Farm home torn apart by a tornado in Dexter. Melanie Maxwell I AnnArbor.com /calendar/photologue/photos/01 Huron Farms/cache/031912_NEWS_Tornado_Damage_MRM_03_fullsize.jpg
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A worker wheels an appliance out of a garage before the rest of the house is demolished in the Huron Farms subdivision in Dexter on Monday. Melanie Maxwell I AnnArbor.com /calendar/photologue/photos/01 Huron Farms/cache/031912_NEWS_Tornado_Damage_MRM_04_fullsize.jpg
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A memory book is seen on the curb, saved from a house in the Huron Farms subdivision in Dexter on Monday. Melanie Maxwell I AnnArbor.com /calendar/photologue/photos/01 Huron Farms/cache/031912_NEWS_Tornado_Damage_MRM_05_fullsize.jpg
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A backhoe pushes through the front door of a home destroyed by a tornado in the Dexter subdivision of Huron Farms. Melanie Maxwell I AnnArbor.com /calendar/photologue/photos/01 Huron Farms/cache/031912_NEWS_Tornado_Damage_MRM_06_fullsize.jpg
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Chris and Katie Cramer watch as their home is picked apart by a backhoe after it was destroyed by a tornado last Thursday. The Cramers and their young son Jack have moved to a nearby condo and will have to build a new home from the basement up. Melanie Maxwell I AnnArbor.com /calendar/photologue/photos/01 Huron Farms/cache/031912_NEWS_Tornado_Damage_MRM_07_fullsize.jpg
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A toilet is seen as a backhoe demolishes the Cramer's bathroom in the Huron Farms subdivision in Dexter on Monday. Melanie Maxwell I AnnArbor.com /calendar/photologue/photos/01 Huron Farms/cache/031912_NEWS_Tornado_Damage_MRM_08_fullsize.jpg
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A Michigan State flag is seen pinned over boarded up windows of a tornado-damaged home in the Huron Farms subdivision in Dexter on Monday. Melanie Maxwell I AnnArbor.com /calendar/photologue/photos/01 Huron Farms/cache/031912_NEWS_Tornado_Damage_MRM_09_fullsize.jpg
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A sign looking for Apricot, a cat last seen before last Thursday's tornado, is posted on a bench in the Huron Farms subdivision in Dexter on Monday. Melanie Maxwell I AnnArbor.com /calendar/photologue/photos/01 Huron Farms/cache/031912_NEWS_Tornado_Damage_MRM_10_fullsize.jpg
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People stand on the first floor of a home destroyed during last week's tornado in the Huron Farms subdivision in Dexter. Melanie Maxwell I AnnArbor.com /calendar/photologue/photos/01 Huron Farms/cache/031912_NEWS_Tornado_Damage_MRM_11_fullsize.jpg
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A toilet is all that remains of a destroyed in the Huron Farms subdivision in Dexter on Monday. Melanie Maxwell I AnnArbor.com /calendar/photologue/photos/01 Huron Farms/cache/031912_NEWS_Tornado_Damage_MRM_12_fullsize.jpg
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Crews work to salvage and clean up tornado-damaged homes in the Huron Farms subdivision in Dexter on Monday. Melanie Maxwell I AnnArbor.com /calendar/photologue/photos/01 Huron Farms/cache/031912_NEWS_Tornado_Damage_MRM_13_fullsize.jpg
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Crews work to salvage and clean up tornado-damaged homes in the Huron Farms subdivision in Dexter on Monday. Melanie Maxwell I AnnArbor.com /calendar/photologue/photos/01 Huron Farms/cache/031912_NEWS_Tornado_Damage_MRM_14_fullsize.jpg
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Children painted a boarded-up garage door with messages and drawing of a tornado that damaged homes in the Huron Farms subdivision in Dexter. Melanie Maxwell I AnnArbor.com /calendar/photologue/photos/01 Huron Farms/cache/031912_NEWS_Tornado_Damage_MRM_15_fullsize.jpg
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Eight-year-old Carly Judit plays with a doll in the back of her tornado-damaged home in the Huron Farms subdivision in Dexter on Monday. Carly rode out last Thursday's storm with her mom, sister and grandparents in their basement. Melanie Maxwell I AnnArbor.com /calendar/photologue/photos/01 Huron Farms/cache/031912_NEWS_Tornado_Damage_MRM_16_fullsize.jpg
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The spray painted message "We love Dexter" covers a boarded-up garage door in the Huron Farms subdivision in Dexter on Monday. Melanie Maxwell I AnnArbor.com /calendar/photologue/photos/01 Huron Farms/cache/031912_NEWS_Tornado_Damage_MRM_17_fullsize.jpg
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Crews work on a tornado-damaged home in the Huron Farms subdivision in Dexter on Monday. Melanie Maxwell I AnnArbor.com /calendar/photologue/photos/01 Huron Farms/cache/031912_NEWS_Tornado_Damage_MRM_18_fullsize.jpg
It has been four days since the EF-3 tornado hit Dexter, damaging more than 200 homes and destroying another 20.
Residents of the Huron Farms subdivision, one of the hardest-hit areas, continue to clean up their neighborhood. For many, that means salvaging what they can of their homes and preparing to build again.
AnnArbor.com Melanie Maxwell captured these images of the scene in Dexter on Monday.
Comments
Ann English
Mon, Mar 19, 2012 : 11:30 p.m.
Backhoes cleaning up tornado-wrecked homes. I wouldn't mind seeing videos from annarbor.com of this activity; it would be better than those videos of historic homes on Fifth Street, BEING WRECKED and cleaned up by heavy equipment, on annarbor.com.
justcurious
Mon, Mar 19, 2012 : 9:45 p.m.
Are there any photographs of the homes in Carriage Hills or on Dexter-Pinkney Rd.? I have not seen any, but we just got our internet back yesterday.
sillysally
Tue, Mar 20, 2012 : 2:45 a.m.
no there are no pictures or news about carriage hills or dexter pinkney because its not in the village of dexter, but dexter township. But from driving through there, the damage is just as bad as what huron farms has experienced.