Myanmar Cyclones and the Michigan Storm of 1998

We in the US watch in horror as the death toll escalates from the cyclone in Myanmar, Burma. Or do we? Are we so accustomed to reports of disaster in third world nations that we turn a death ear? Are we so shocked by the natural disasters being wreaked upon unfortunate people who suffer already systemic poverty? It often seems to me that those most in need are forced to endure the most horrific of natural disasters, as nature was conspiring to punish an already endangered people. Mudslides, tsunamis, earthquakes, droughts all occurring in places least likely to survive. Why?

On May 30, 1998, west Michigan was hit by a natural disaster which has been referred to by several names. "Straight line winds", "squall', Michigan twister, etc. My husband and I and our four children (the youngest only 6 weeks old) were living in the trailer park in Spring Lake that was hit the hardest and most devastated by this renegade wind. I was nursing our newest daughter. She slept in bed with me as was our custom. The previous night, my husband was at work. We had experienced very strong winds. A few trees had toppled over. We had been exploring at Hofmaster State Park in Muskegon, earlier in the afternoon. The wind had begun to blow toward 6pm and a branch had fallen on our older son. We joked that he was being followed by the storm ( I believe that we had watched 'The Wizard of Oz" recently.

As we drove back to our home in Grand Haven, we saw a spruce tree that had been uprooted. We decided to drive to the Grand Haven State Park to see what Lake Michigan and the Grand River channel looked like. Any Michigan resident who lives on one of the great lakes, as we do, tends to look to the lake for an idea of weather to come. Lake Michigan affects so much of our weather.