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Photos and videos posted on social media showed flattened homes and downed trees in the lakeside neighbourhood.
The scary moments of a tornado tearing through Union City, Michigan was caught on camera by onlookers. According to the Associated Press, the Michigan tornado killed four people, including a 12-year-old boy.
The National Weather Service confirmed that an EF3 tornado with winds of at least 150 mph (241 kph) struck the Union Lake area on Friday.
The scary visuals showed the powerful tornado sweeping through the city, destroying homes and uprooting trees in its path. Photos and videos posted on social media showed flattened homes and downed trees in the lakeside neighbourhood.
Michigan tornado viral video
The viral Michigan tornado video was shared by Lisa Piper on Facebook. She captured it from her back deck.
The video showed a terrifying scene on the other side of frozen Union Lake as a funnel cloud formed and then dropped toward the ground on Friday. Trees were torn from their roots, and debris flew into the air.
“It’s lifting houses!” she said. As the devastation continued, she exclaimed: “Oh my heart is pounding. Oh, I hope they’re OK.”
A separate video also showed people seeking shelter indoors as another tornado in the city of Three Rivers sent large chunks of debris and dust flying across a car park.
3 killed, 12 injured in Michigan
Three people were killed, and 12 were injured in the Union Lake area, according to the Branch County Sheriff’s Office.
First responders from multiple agencies in the Union Lake area near Union City looked for more possible victims and worked to clear roads, authorities said.
It was the second tornado to hit Union City in two years. An EF1 tornado with 95 mph (153 kph) winds touched down briefly in May 2024 and destroyed a machine shed.
Severe thunderstorms that began in northern Indiana appeared to spawn multiple tornadoes in southern Michigan the previous day, AP quoted meteorologist Lonnie Fisher of the National Weather Service as saying. Fisher sent teams to the region to evaluate the damage and confirm tornadoes.
“Mostly likely there were three distinct tornadoes, but we won’t know 100% for sure until they finish the survey,” Fisher said, adding that the storms intensified rapidly in southern Michigan after hitting northern Indiana.
Oklahoma tornado
The weather service also reported seven preliminary tornado tracks in eastern Oklahoma that same day, according to the state's emergency operations centre.
Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt declared a state of emergency in several counties to free up support and resources.
In Beggs, about 50 kilometres south of Tulsa, Oklahoma, a tornado was blamed for the deaths of two people in a house on Friday, the Okmulgee County Sheriff's Office said. Two others were taken to a hospital.
These deaths came a day after storms killed a 47-year-old woman and her 13-year-old daughter in their vehicle in Fairview, in the western part of the state.
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