At least six people were killed and more than a dozen others injured after tornadoes struck Michigan and Oklahoma on Friday, as outbreaks of severe weather brought damaging winds, large hail and heavy rain from Texas to the Great Lakes, officials said.
In Michigan, a tornado killed at least three people and injured 12 others in Union City, a village about 40 miles southeast of Kalamazoo, Sheriff Frederick Blankenship of Branch County said. Three of those injured were taken to a hospital.
One person was killed and several more were injured in nearby Cass County after a reported tornado touched down near Edwardsburg, Mich., Sheriff Clint Roach said in a news release. Details about those injured were not immediately known.
In Oklahoma, a tornado killed at least two people and injured several others inside a house that it destroyed near Beggs, Okla., a city about 30 miles south of Tulsa, said Jeffrey Moore, the Okmulgee County emergency manager. More buildings in Beggs were also destroyed, he said.
“It’s a tragic, significant event,” Mr. Moore said in a phone interview, adding that he could not immediately confirm the number of people who were injured. About 3,000 people lost power in Beggs, where a tornado also damaged a middle school, he said.
The National Weather Service received 13 tornado reports in Michigan and Oklahoma on Friday night.
The severe weather “wreaked havoc” in the Union City area, Jennifer Nagel, the assistant village manager, said in a statement. Sheriff Blankenship urged people to avoid affected areas and warned that residents should expect power outages, closed roads and disruptions to cellular and internet service.
Multiple homes and pole barns were damaged or destroyed, said Manny DeLaRosa, the emergency manager for Cass County.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan said there were also reports of injuries in Saint Joseph County. Details about the number of people injured and their conditions were not immediately available.
In that county, a video taken by a driver in Three Rivers, about 27 miles south of Kalamazoo, Mich., captured debris flying through the air and the roof of a store blowing off. Three Rivers Health said several buildings on its hospital campus had sustained wind damage, but said no patients or staff members had been injured.
The side of the First Congregational United Church of Christ in Union City was damaged, the church said on Facebook. One person was at the church at the time and they were uninjured, the church said.
A tornado in Oklahoma damaged buildings and downed power lines in northern Tulsa on Friday night, leaving more than 6,000 people without power, Mayor Monroe Nichols of Tulsa said on social media.
The thunderstorm activity in the Tulsa area was expected to move into southeast Kansas and southern Missouri, bringing a threat of supercells thunderstorms that can spawn tornadoes.
More than 50 million people across the region faced the potential for some severe weather as storms moved through on Friday.
John Hart, meteorologist with the Storm Prediction Center, said on Friday that the thunderstorm activity in the Midwest and Plains was not over, with the threat continuing through the night.
Separately, northern Missouri and southern Iowa, where storms were just starting to form on Friday, was another area of concern.
Forecasters had warned this week that the country faced over a week straight of some level of potentially hazardous weather starting Wednesday, and that Friday was expected to be among the most severe.
In northeastern Oklahoma, a woman and her teenage daughter were killed on Thursday night in Major County as a tornado moved through, local authorities said. Sheriff Anthony Robinson said the pair were found in a vehicle that had been thrown a “significant distance” in a rural area near Fairview, Okla.
Facing a forecast that could potentially bring more storms and tornadoes to the area on Friday, Sheriff Robinson said, “There is not a whole lot you can do to prepare for them other than knowing where your shelters are.”
In Missouri, Gov. Mike Kehoe declared a state of emergency on Friday in anticipation of hazardous weather, and he urged people to pay attention to local forecasts through the day.
Repeated thunderstorms will also bring the risk of flash flooding, especially across northeastern Texas, eastern Oklahoma and parts of Arkansas, Kansas and Missouri.
Here’s what else to know:
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Severe storms are also expected on Saturday. The areas at highest risk are expected to be from the eastern half of Texas into portions of Louisiana, Arkansas and Mississippi and toward the Great Lakes. Damaging winds will be the primary threat, except in parts of Texas, where large hail could also occur.
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The risk for flash floods continues across portions of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana, through the middle of next week.
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Into early next week, forecasters said that Tuesday was likely to be another especially unsettled day.
Reporting was contributed by Christine Hauser, Mark Walker, Erin McCann, Nazaneen Ghaffar and Mitch Smith.
Hannah Ziegler is a general assignment reporter for The Times, covering topics such as crime, business, weather, pop culture and online trends.
The post At Least 6 Dead as Tornadoes Slam Michigan and Oklahoma appeared first on New York Times.
