At least 1 killed, dozens hurt in rare northern Michigan tornado

A rare northern Michigan tornado tore through a small community on Friday, killing at least one person and injuring more than 40 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, at around 3:45 p.m.

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. At least half the building is still here. It’s bad.”

Brian Lawson, a spokesman for Munson Healthcare, said Gaylord-Otsego Memorial Hospital was treating 23 people who were injured by the tornado and that one person was killed. He didn’t know the conditions of the injured or the name of the fatality.

KRISTOPHER RADDER — THE BRATTLEBORO REFORMER FOR THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Weekend solitude: Michelle Mahin, from Dummerston, Vt., sits along the banks of the quietly flowing West River in Newfane, Vt., on Friday.