At least four tornados touched down in Michigan as part of severe storms powered by strong winds that killed five people in the US state.
The storms also brought down trees, tore roofs off buildings and left hundreds of thousands of customers without power, officials said.
The National Weather Service confirmed that an EF-1 tornado with winds of 90mph crossed from Ingham County into the western edge of adjacent Livingston County on Thursday night.
A weaker EF-0 tornado with peak winds of 80mph 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 onto a house, said meteorologist Sara Schultz.
Preliminary information shows that after entering Livingston County, the EF-1 tornado remained on the ground for a mile or less before “weakening and lifting,” said Dave Gurney, a meteorologist with the weather service’s office in Oakland County’s White Lake Township.
The storm 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, aged one and three, died on Thursday night after two vehicles collided head-on as it was raining.
“There was two vehicles travelling towards each other. One hydroplaned on water and it was occupied by four people,” Sergeant Eric Brunner told WZZM-TV.
The sheriff’s office said a 22-year-old man who was driving the car carrying the woman and two girls was seriously injured in the crash, which occurred when his car struck a vehicle. That vehicle’s driver suffered minor injuries.
In Lansing, the state capital, an 84-year-old woman died on Thursday night after a tree fell on a home. Firefighters extricated the woman from the home, but she was pronounced dead at a hospital, Lansing Police Department spokeswoman Jordan Gulkis said.
In Ingham County, where Lansing is located, the sheriff’s office said one person was confirmed dead and several people severely injured as more than 25 vehicles were severely damaged along Interstate 96.
Trees were uprooted and some roofs collapsed during Thursday’s storms, leaving many roads closed due to fallen trees and power lines.
Wayne County Executive Warren Evans declared a state of emergency on Friday in Michigan’s largest county, which includes Detroit, due to power outages, flooding, fallen trees and power lines and storm debris.
The county also warned residents to avoid any contact with several rivers after flooding caused municipalities to discharge partially or fully untreated wastewater into various waterways.
More than 460,000 customers in Michigan and over 218,000 in Ohio were without power as of about 11.30am local time on Friday, according to the Poweroutage.us website.
