Tornadoes Kill Six Across Michigan and Oklahoma in Early Spring Outbreak
Authorities in southern Michigan spent Saturday searching through rubble and debris after a series of suspected tornadoes tore through the region, killing four people and injuring at least a dozen more. Two further deaths were recorded in eastern Oklahoma, bringing the toll from the multi-state storm system to six.
The National Weather Service confirmed that an EF3 tornado, carrying winds of at least 150 mph (241 kph), struck the Union Lake area of Michigan. Three people were killed and 12 injured in that area alone, according to the Branch County Sheriff's Office. Surveys of damage in other affected areas were still under way Saturday.
First responders from multiple agencies converged on the Union Lake area near Union City to search for additional victims and clear roads. Photos and videos posted on social media showed flattened homes and toppled trees in a lakeside neighbourhood. Lisa Piper, who stood on her back deck and filmed the storm as it crossed the frozen lake, captured the moment a funnel cloud formed and dropped toward the ground. "It's lifting houses!" she exclaimed in the footage. "Oh my heart is pounding. Oh, I hope they're OK."
Approximately 50 miles (81 kilometres) southwest of Union Lake, in Cass County, a 12-year-old boy named Silas Anderson died after being caught in a separate possible tornado. Sheriff Clint Roach said in a Facebook post that Anderson's parents found him injured and provided first aid, but he later died at a hospital.
Lonnie Fisher, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service, said severe thunderstorms that began in northern Indiana appeared to have spawned multiple tornadoes in southern Michigan on Friday. "Mostly likely there were three distinct tornadoes, but we won't know 100 percent for sure until they finish the survey," Fisher said Saturday, adding that the storms rapidly intensified after crossing into southern Michigan from Indiana.
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer said she would declare a state of emergency in Branch, Cass and St. Joseph counties. Disaster relief workers went door to door in the Union City and Three Rivers areas offering meals and clean-up supplies.
In Oklahoma, a tornado in Beggs, roughly 30 miles (48 kilometres) south of Tulsa, was blamed for the deaths of two people in a house on Friday, according to the Okmulgee County Sheriff's Office. Two other people were taken to hospital. Jeff Moore, the county's emergency manager, said the tornado cut approximately a 4-mile (6.4-kilometre) path of damage through Okmulgee County. Large trees were toppled and widespread power outages were reported. Suspected tornadoes also struck northern parts of Tulsa, where a building at the Tulsa Tech Peoria campus sustained damage.
Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt declared a state of emergency in several counties to free up support and resources for affected communities. The Oklahoma fatalities came a day after storms killed a 47-year-old woman and her 13-year-old daughter in Fairview, in the western part of the state. Authorities said the two were found dead in a vehicle.
The threat of severe weather extended well beyond the immediate affected areas on Saturday. The National Weather Service said strong storms and flash flood risks stretched from the Great Lakes to Texas. Tornado watches were posted Saturday afternoon for eastern Ohio, northern West Virginia and western parts of Pennsylvania and New York. Strong thunderstorms were considered possible in a corridor stretching from Texas northeast to Ohio and into western Pennsylvania and New York.
The storms mark one of the first significant outbreaks of severe weather as the spring storm season begins to take hold across the central and southern United States.
