To read our minute-by-minute coverage as the severe storms spawned damaging tornadoes Friday night,click here.
Towns across the Midwest and Plains are picking up the pieces after a severe weather outbreak spawned numerous damaging tornadoes that killed at least eight people and injured dozens more.
The National Weather Service has confirmed 18 tornadoes between Thursday and Saturday, eight of which were rated either EF2 or EF3. Damage survey teams will be out this week, so that number could climb.
Deaths have been reported in these towns:
-Union City, Michigan: Three dead, 12 injured
-Edwardsburg, Michigan: One dead, several injured
-Okmulgee County, Oklahoma: Two deaths
-Major County, Oklahoma: Two deaths (Thursday night's severe weather)
(MORE:Tornadoes Surge In March, Here's Why)
Some of the most severe damage from this outbreak occurred Friday evening in the town of Union City, Michigan, located just west of Interstate 69 in the southern part of the state. Homes along the St. Joseph River were destroyed in the town of about 1,700, left unrecognizable by the killer tornado.
On Saturday afternoon, an NWS damage survey confirmed that an EF3 tornado with peak winds estimated at 160 mph hit the area. This is the first EF3 tornado in Michigan since May 2022.
Lisa Piper stood on her back deck and videoed a terrifying scene that played out on the other side of frozen Union Lake as a funnel cloud formed and then dropped toward the ground. Trees were torn from their roots and debris flew into the air.
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"It's lifting houses!" she said. As the devastation continued, she exclaimed: "Oh my heart is pounding. Oh, I hope they're OK."
Part of the First Congregational United Church of Christ in Union City was damaged, although its nearly 150-year-old grand piano was spared, it said in a post on Facebook.
(MORE:Track The Ongoing Severe Weather Threat With These Maps)
Michigan gets an average of 15 tornadoes a year, which is much less than the 155 for Texas and 96 for Kansas, according to David Roth, a meteorologist at the weather service's Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer activated the state's Emergency Operations Center Friday "to coordinate an all-hands-on-deck response to severe weather," she said in a statement.
Volunteers helped residents sift through rubble and begin cleanup of a trail of destruction that included flattened homes and scattered debris.
Two Nights Of Tornadoes In Oklahoma
In Oklahoma, a tornado cut around a 4-mile path of damage in Okmulgee County, some 30 miles south of Tulsa, although more details wouldn't be clear until daybreak, said Jeff Moore, the county's emergency manager.
Two people were killed and two others were taken to a hospital, officials said. Electrical lines were down and large trees were toppled. Power was out for more than 1,600 people, according topoweroutage.us.
"We're just getting everywhere as fast as we can, clearing roads as fast we can," Moore said.
Damage from suspected tornadoes was also reported in northern parts of Tulsa.
On Thursday night, a mother and daughter were killed after their vehicle was hit bya tornado near Fairview, Oklahoma. The Major County Sheriff's Office told KOCO News that the woman was driving near State Highway 60 and 243 when the vehicle was struck.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
To read our minute-by-minute coverage as the severe storms spawned damaging tornadoes Friday night,click here. ...
