AT LEAST 1 KILLED, 40 HURT IN NORTHERN MICHIGAN TORNADO
Vehicles overturned, buildings destroyed in rare twister
GAYLORD, Mich.
A rare northern Michigan tornado tore through a small community on Friday, killing at least one person and injuring at least 40 others as it flipped vehicles, tore roofs from buildings and downed trees and power lines.
The twister hit Gaylord, a city of about 4,200 people roughly 230 miles northwest of Detroit, around 3:45 p.m.
Mike Klepadlo, who owns the car repair shop AlterStart 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. At least half the building is still here. It’s bad.”
Emma Goddard, 15, said she was working at the Tropical Smoothie Cafe when she got a phone alert about the tornado. Thinking the weather outside looked “stormy, but not scary,” she dismissed it and returned to what she was doing. Her mother then called and she assured her mom she was OK.
Two minutes later, she was pouring a customer’s smoothie when her coworker’s mom rushed in yelling for them to get to the back of the building, Goddard told The Associated Press by text message. They took shelter in the walk-in cooler, where they could hear windows shattering.
“I was crammed shoulder-to-shoulder with my seven co-workers, two of my coworkers’ parents and a lady from Door Dash coming to pick up her smoothies.”
When they left the cooler about 15 minutes later and stepped outside, they saw “some of our cars in pieces and insulation all over the ground,” Goddard said. Three neighboring businesses were destroyed, she said.
The Michigan State Patrol confirmed that one person was killed, saying in a tweet that more than 40 others were hurt and being treated at area hospitals. The patrol planned to hold a briefing today.
“I’ve never seen anything like this in my life,” Mayor Todd Sharrard said. “I’m numb.”
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer declared a state of emergency for Otsego County, making further state resources available to the county.
Video posted online showed a dark funnel cloud materialize out of a cloud as nervous drivers looked on or slowly drove away, uncertain of its path.
Other video showed extensive damage along the city’s Main Street. One building appeared to be largely collapsed and a Goodwill store was badly damaged. A collapsed utility pole lay on the side of the road, and debris, including what appeared to be electrical wires and parts of a Marathon gas station, was scattered all along the street.
The Red Cross set up a shelter at a church.
Brandie Slough, 42, said she and a teen daughter sought safety in a restroom at a Culver’s. Windows of the fast food restaurant were blown out when they emerged, and her pickup truck had been flipped on its roof in the parking lot.
“We shook our heads in disbelief but are thankful to be safe. At that point, who cares about the truck,” Slough said.