Severe storms batter midwest, damaging buildings in Michigan
Tornadoes ripped through communities in Michigan on Tuesday evening as severe storms battered the Midwest, bringing more destruction a day after tornadoes in the southern Plains killed at least one person and damaged dozens of homes.
Officials in Kalamazoo County in southern Michigan said they were responding to a tornado that struck Portage, a city of about 50,000, leaving streets littered with downed power lines, trees and building debris.
The extent of the damage was not immediately clear, but local news outlets shared images from social media that showed damaged buildings.
Another a tornado warning was issued for Kalamazoo County, including Portage, even as emergency workers were responding to damage from the tornado that had hit earlier.
Officials in Kalamazoo County could not be immediately reached Tuesday evening. Roughly 20,000 customers in the county were without power in the county, according to PowerOutage.us, which aggregates utilities information across the U.S.
As storms moved through the region Tuesday afternoon, the Weather Service issued a string of tornado warnings in cities across Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana and Michigan.
About 13.5 million people in parts of Indiana, northern Kentucky and western Ohio were warned about an enhanced risk for severe thunderstorms through Tuesday evening, with the possibility of strong tornadoes and large hail, according to the Storm Prediction Center of the National Weather Service.
The roughly 60,000-square-mile area may also experience frequent lightning and strong wind gusts, according to the Weather Service.
A larger section of the Midwest, encompassing nearly 16 million people across portions of Illinois, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee, was facing a slight risk of severe weather Tuesday.
The Weather Service also warned that storms passing over the region would produce heavy rain that may create some localized areas of flash flooding. Urban areas, roads, small streams and low-lying areas were most vulnerable, meteorologists said.
At least 15 tornadoes were reported to have struck parts of the Plains on Monday night. One tornado that was up to 2 miles wide ripped through Barnsdall, Oklahoma, a city about 40 miles northwest of Tulsa, killing one person, an Osage County official said.
In the predawn hours, it was difficult to assess the damage caused by the tornado, but one Osage County official said it had leveled about one-third of the small city, which has a population of about 1,000, and caused multiple injuries.
