At least seven tornadoes touched down in Michigan as part of severe storms powered by strong winds that killed five people, while downing trees, tearing roofs off buildings and leaving hundreds of thousands of customers without power, officials said. The National Weather Service on Friday said an EF-2 tornado with a maximum wind speed of 125 mph struck Lansing, the state capital, killing one person Thursday night and injuring three others, the AP reports. Lansing Police Department spokesperson Jordan Gulkis said an 84-year-old woman died after a tree fell on a home. Firefighters extricated the woman from the home, but she was pronounced dead at a hospital.
The weather service also confirmed that an EF-1 tornado with winds of 90 mph crossed from Ingham County into the western edge of adjacent Livingston County on Thursday night. Four other EF-1 tornadoes were reported in Belleville and Gibraltar in Wayne County, and in South Rockwood and near Newport in Monroe County. A weaker EF-0 tornado with peak winds of 80 mph was on the ground for less than two miles in Wayne County's Canton Township, west of Detroit, the weather service said. That tornado caused a tree to fall into a house, said meteorologist Sara Schultz. The weather service office in Grand Rapids, in western Michigan, said officials would be in the field Friday conducting damage surveys on a suspected tornado in Kent County.
The storms featured lightning displays erupting across the night sky and dumped multiple inches of rain on communities across the lower portion of the state. In western Michigan, the Kent County sheriff's office said a 21-year-old woman and two girls, ages 1 and 3, died Thursday night after two vehicles collided head-on as it was raining. "There was two vehicles traveling toward each other. One hydroplaned on water and it was occupied by four people," Sgt. Eric Brunner told WZZM-TV. The sheriff's office said a 22-year-old Gowen man who was driving the car carrying the woman and two girls was seriously injured in the crash, which occurred when his car struck an SUV. That vehicle's driver suffered minor injuries. In Ingham County, where Lansing is located, the sheriff's office said Friday that one person was confirmed dead and several people severely injured as more than 25 vehicles were severely damaged along Interstate 96.
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