GAYLORD, Mich. (AP/WOOD) — Roofs and walls on a busy business stretch were turned to tangled rubble. Mobile homes were destroyed. Tornadoes are so uncommon in northern Michigan that Gaylord doesn’t have a siren system to warn people about hazardous weather.

The town of 4,200 turned to cleanup Saturday, a day after a tornado with 140 mph winds pummeled Gaylord, killing two people, injuring more than 40 and shocking residents who are more familiar with snowstorms than spring windstorms.

A utility reported much progress in restoring electricity, though thousands still lacked power. Some roads remained clogged with downed poles and other wreckage.

“We have a lot of debris to clear,” said state police Lt. Derrick Carroll.

Two people in their 70s who lived at the Nottingham Forest mobile home park died, state police said. It was among the first sites hit by the tornado, which was rated an EF3 by the National Weather Service on a scale of 0-5.

“There have been trailers picked up and turned over on top of each other. Just a very large debris field,” said Chris Martin, Otsego County fire chief. “Crews are in there right now doing a secondary search with heavy equipment.”

He said there’s “probably 95% destruction in there.”

Gaylord, about 230 miles (370 kilometers) northwest of Detroit, is a popular destination for skiers and snowmobilers in the winter and golfers in the summer. It doesn’t have tornado sirens, though anyone with a mobile phone got a “code red” warning from the weather service about 10 minutes before the tornado hit, Carroll said.

Video posted online showed a dark funnel cloud approaching as anxious drivers looked on or slowly drove away on area roads.

Betty Wisniewski, 87, avoided injury even though the tornado significantly damaged her house, said son Steve Wisniewski, who lives next door.

“Luckily she was OK — rosary in hand,” he said from a ladder while attaching plastic to his windows. “She was praying. Pretty amazing.”

Outside a Culver’s, a pickup truck had been completely flipped upside down. Joey Papenhagen’s family friend was driving it through Gaylord on a test drive from the GM dealership a ways down the road.

Papenhagen was towing it back to the dealership Saturday. He works for a local towing business that was wrecked by the tornado.

“We just went there and finished cleaning up all the cars in the building the roof has been ripped right up windows are blown out just about the same as everybody else,” he said.

This truck was completely turned upside down.

The driver had borrowed the truck from the dealership. They were taking it for a test drive when the tornado tore through Gaylord. @WOODTV pic.twitter.com/r10Qfb8Yv7

— Byron Tollefson (@byron_tollefson) May 21, 2022

On Saturday, residents were showing up for each other. Jill Mazzenga of Gaylord was among many helping out in the city on Saturday, delivering food to people in need. She has experienced PTSD since the tornado struck Gaylord.

“It’s devastating when you drive through and realize, my town is gone,” Jill said.

Her home was not damaged by the tornado, but Jill and her co-worker made dinner and passed out meals on Saturday. She says it’s about Gaylord residents helping one another in their time of need.

Jil, a Gaylord resident, is driving around the city handing out food to people in need.

"That's what we do," she tells me.@WOODTV pic.twitter.com/jEHhaOsYGy

— Byron Tollefson (@byron_tollefson) May 21, 2022

Gaylord Police Chief Frank Claeys said the immediate moments after the tornado were tough for first responders.

“We were searching in places where we knew the occupants. We were calling them out by name,” Claeys said. “It’s a lot more personal when our officers know the people who live in those homes.”

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer declared a state of emergency Friday night, making further state resources available.

Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist was in Gaylord late Saturday afternoon to assess the damage and get an update on recovery efforts.

“Everyone in Michigan is going to wrap our arms around those families and everyone who is working together to recover here,” he said.

He along with Michigan State Police announced that a 211 phone number has been activated, allowing people in the Gaylord area to call to report missing people and damage, or receive information about resources. It will be staffed by a live person in Michigan.

“The emergency declaration means we have unlocked every resource in the state government to be able to make sure this community will be able to have what it needs and won’t spare any expense to make sure that it happens,” Gilchrist said.

Electricity was out for thousands of people in the area, and some roads still were clogged with downed poles and other wreckage.

“We have a lot of debris to clear,” Carroll said.

Indeed, roofs and walls at some businesses in the tornado’s path were shredded. Cars and trucks were turned on their sides or completely flipped over. Video posted online showed a dark funnel cloud approaching as anxious drivers looked on or slowly drove away.

John Boris of the weather service post in Gaylord said the tornado passed through the community in about three minutes but was on the ground in the region for 26 minutes — a “fairly long” time.

“We don’t get a whole lot of tornadoes,” said Boris, science and operations officer. “In the state of Michigan, in general, we typically average about 15 or so (a year) and more of those are downstate than they are up to the north. It’s pretty unusual.”

Indeed, the last notable windstorm was in 1998 when 100 mph straight-line winds raked Gaylord.

Boris said warm, 80-degree air earlier Friday and strong winds moving east across Lake Michigan were key conditions producing the tornado.

A link to climate change probably doesn’t fit, he said.

“It’s very difficult to attribute something very specific like this to a large-scale signal like that,” Boris said. “If we had these more frequently, that may be a signal.”

Consumers Energy provided free barbeque meals to Gaylord residents on Saturday from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the University Center, located at 80 Livingston Blvd.

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White reported from Detroit.