One dead, 40 injured as rare tornado hits Michigan
A rare tornado in northern Michigan tore through a small community on Friday, killing at least one person and injuring more than 40 others as it flipped vehicles, tore roofs from buildings and downed trees.
The twister hit Gaylord, a city of about 4200 people roughly 370km northwest of Detroit, about 3.45pm.
Mike Klepadlo, who owns the car repair shop Alter-Start North, said he and his workers took cover in a bathroom.
“I’m lucky I’m alive. It blew the back off the building,” he said.
“Twenty feet of the back wall is gone. The whole roof is missing.”
Brian Lawson, a spokesman for Munson Healthcare, said Otsego Memorial Hospital was treating 23 people injured by the tornado and that one person was killed.
Brandie Slough, 42, said she and her daughter sought safety in a restroom at a Culver’s.
Windows of the fast food restaurant were blown out when they emerged, and her pick-up truck had been flipped on its roof in the parking lot.
“We are thankful to be safe. At that point, who cares about the truck?” Slough said.
Extreme winds are uncommon in this part of Michigan because the Great Lakes suck energy out of storms, especially early in spring when the lakes are cold, said Jim Keysor, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
“Many kids and young adults would have never experienced any severe weather if they had lived in Gaylord their entire lives,” he said.
The last time Gaylord had a severe wind storm was in 1998, when straight-line winds reached 100mph, Keysor said. He said the conditions that spawned Friday’s twister included a cold front moving in from Wisconsin and hitting hot and humid air over Gaylord.
Governor Gretchen Whitmer declared a state of emergency for Otsego County, making further state resources available to the county.