At least one person was killed and 40 more were injured when a “large and extremely dangerous” tornado struck Gaylord, Mich., on Friday afternoon.
The National Weather Service reported the tornado just before 4 p.m. The twister smashed buildings and overturned cars and mobile homes, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake.
A local hospital did not immediately report the conditions of the many injured people. City leaders and national weather authorities had not completely taken stock of the damage on Friday night.
Debris littered the ground across the 4,000-person town about 50 miles south of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
Witnesses said the tornado went through the city’s most populated area.
“I’m lucky I’m alive. It blew the back off the building,” car repair shop owner Mike Klepadlo said after taking cover in a bathroom. “Twenty feet of the back wall is gone. The whole roof is missing. At least half the building is still here. It’s bad.”
Social media photos showed multiple buildings throughout the town had been wrecked, including a Culver’s restaurant and part of a strip mall.
“Trees and power lines blocking roadways,” Michigan State Police tweeted. “Multiple homes and businesses damaged. Avoid the Gaylord area.”
Michigan, particularly northern Michigan, rarely sees such severe storms and high winds because of the surrounding Great Lakes.
“We aren’t used to it up here,” Jim Gorno of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources told CNN. “We don’t have sirens like in other parts of the country.”
With News Wire Services
