In your example, although after the storm follows A man it is not used as an adjectival modifying A man but as an adverbial modifying the entire clause. You can move that adverbial to other positions without changing the sense of the sentence:

A man is usually in despair after a storm.
After a storm a man is usually in despair.

In fact, your friend has placed the phrase in the least likely, most awkward position, precisely because it suggests that the phrase is a part of the preceding noun phrase.

It is very rare in English to find a temporal expression attributed to an entity. Such expressions are almost always attached to events or predications.

In your example, although after the storm follows A man it is not used as an adjectival modifying A man but as an adverbial modifying the entire clause. You can move that adverbial to other positions without changing the sense of the sentence:

A man is usually in despair after a storm.
After a storm a man is usually in despair.

In fact, the position where your friend has placed the phrase is the least likely and most awkward possible, precisely because it suggests that the phrase is a part of the preceding noun phrase.

It is very rare in English to find a temporal locative attributed to an entity. Such expressions are almost always attached to events or predications. When we wish to speak of a temporal location as 'characteristic' of an entity we usually use the location as an attributive nominal or attach it to the entity with an of phrase:

12th-century architecture is revolutionary.
People of the 16th century still embraced a fundamentally theocentric worldview.