Five people, including two children, died and more than 400,000 customers were left without electricity after a series of powerful storms and tornadoes swept through Michigan on Thursday night.
The National Weather Service confirmed that four tornadoes touched down in different parts of the state, causing widespread damage to homes, buildings, trees and power lines.
One of the tornadoes, an EF-1 with winds up to 90 mph, entered Livingston County near West Branch Red Cedar River and tracked east-northeast to I-96, where it flipped cars and triggered a 25-vehicle pileup, according to the Ingham County Sheriff’s Office. One person died in the accident.
Another EF-1 tornado with the same wind speed hit west of Belleville in Wayne County, uprooting trees and peeling siding off homes. It dissipated after a 3-mile path.
An EF-0 tornado with 80 mph winds touched down just north of the Pheasant Run Golf Club in Canton Township, also in Wayne County, and tracked southeast for 1.7 miles before ending just north of the Lower River Rouge.
The fourth tornado, an EF-1 with 100 mph winds, was on the ground for 8.7 miles in Kent County, where three people were killed in a two-car crash as one of them hydroplaned on water during the storm.
The fifth fatality occurred in Lansing when a tree fell on a home.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer declared a state of emergency for Wayne and Monroe counties to help with the recovery efforts.
“We are working closely with local emergency responders and officials to address widespread power outages caused by severe weather,” Whitmer said in a statement. “We are committed to ensuring that every Michigander affected by these storms has access to the resources they need as we begin to clean up.”
As of Friday morning, more than 456,000 customers were still without power across the state, according to utility companies.
The storms also caused flooding that blocked access to the McNamara Terminal at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport.
Sources: MSN, UPI, ClickOnDetroit
