(Pavilion Township, Michigan) Three tornadoes were confirmed in Michigan as severe storms ripped through the central United States early Wednesday, killing a Tennessee man when a tree fell on his vehicle.
The storm that swept through Northeast Tennessee brought high winds that toppled power lines and trees. Claiborne County Sheriff Bob Brooks said a 22-year-old man was in a car struck by one of the trees.
National Weather Service meteorologist Nathan Jeruzal said three tornadoes touched down in Kalamazoo, Cass and Branch counties in southwest Michigan.
The Portage area of Kalamazoo County was hit hard: a FedEx facility was destroyed and more than a dozen mobile homes were razed.
Tornadoes were first reported after dark Tuesday evening in parts of Michigan, Indiana and Ohio, while parts of Illinois, Kentucky and Missouri were also under tornado watch, according to the National Weather Service. The day before, a deadly tornado devastated a town in Oklahoma.
In southern Indiana, the National Weather Service confirmed that a tornado with a preliminary rating of “EF-0” and winds of 85 mph touched down early Wednesday, damaging homes in a subdivision in north of the town of Sellersburg, about twenty kilometers north of Louisville, Kentucky.
The Clark County Emergency Management Agency said the storm damaged 24 buildings.
PHOTO BRAD DEVEREAUX, ASSOCIATED PRESS
At one point, around 50 people were trapped inside FedEx premises due to downed power lines.
Survey teams planned to deploy Wednesday to determine whether tornadoes struck locations in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia, according to Jeff Craven, meteorologist in charge of the weather service’s Pittsburgh office.
Just outside Pittsburgh, a weather service team confirmed that a brief tornado, with winds reaching 169 mph, overturned a trailer and snapped more than a dozen trees early Wednesday in the township from Findlay, Pennsylvania.
Baseball-sized hailstones were reported Wednesday in areas just southwest of St. Louis, Missouri. Heavy downpours caused flash flooding and at least one water rescue near Sullivan, a town hit by a small tornado two days earlier, destroying a bar and damaging the high school. Devastating hail was also reported in the Kansas City area.
Power outages
Radar indicated that Hancock County, West Virginia, and Jefferson County, Ohio, were hit by tornadoes, but crews will need to assess the damage to determine its severity, meteorologist Jeff said Craven.
Schools in Hancock County, West Virginia, closed Wednesday due to “significant weather issues overnight.” Media reports reported damaged buildings and power outages.
A National Weather Service team also traveled to Hot Springs, Arkansas, to assess damage and determine the strength of a tornado that struck early Wednesday morning, forecaster Tabitha Clarke said.
The tornado damaged some homes, uprooted trees and downed power lines. There were no immediate reports of injuries from the tornado, according to the state Division of Emergency Management.
More than 30,000 customers were without power in Michigan early Wednesday, and another 10,000 in Ohio, according to PowerOutage.us.
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer declared a state of emergency in four counties.
Tuesday’s storms came a day after parts of the central United States were hit by heavy rain, strong winds, hail and tornadoes. The Plains and Midwest had been hit by tornadoes this spring.
In the United States, the whole week promises to be stormy. The Midwest and South are expected to be hit hardest by bad weather during the rest of the week, including Indianapolis, Memphis, Nashville, St. Louis and Cincinnati, cities where more than 21 million people live. The sky should clear at the end of the week.
Monday evening, a deadly tornado in Oklahoma devastated the town of Barnsdall, which has a population of around 1,000. At least one person was killed and another missing. Dozens of houses were destroyed.
This was the second tornado to hit Barnsdall in five weeks – a tornado on the 1er April, with winds of 145 to 161 km/h, damaged houses and brought down trees and electrical poles.