The deaths come near the start of what many call tornado season, with the storm system producing at least seven preliminary tornado tracks in eastern Oklahoma alone and a continuing threat of severe weather stretching into the northeastern United States on Saturday.
UNION CITY, Mich. — Authorities searched through rubble and debris in southern Michigan on Saturday after suspected tornadoes killed four people, including a 12-year-old boy, in a storm system that also claimed two lives in eastern Oklahoma on Friday.
The National Weather Service confirmed an EF3 tornado with winds of at least 150 mph (241 kph) struck the Union Lake area near Union City and dispatched survey teams to evaluate the damage and confirm additional tornado tracks across the region.
Meteorologist Lonnie Fisher of the National Weather Service said severe thunderstorms that originated in northern Indiana appeared to spawn multiple tornadoes in southern Michigan after intensifying rapidly. “Mostly likely there were three distinct tornadoes, but we won’t know 100% for sure until they finish the survey,” Fisher said.
Southern Michigan
Three people were killed and 12 were injured in the Union Lake area, according to the Branch County Sheriff’s Office. It was the second tornado to hit Union City in two years; an EF1 tornado with 95 mph (153 kph) winds touched down there briefly in May 2024.
About 50 miles (81 kilometers) southwest of Union Lake, Silas Anderson, a 12-year-old boy, died after a possible tornado struck Cass County, the Cass County Sheriff’s Office said. Sheriff Clint Roach said in a Facebook post that Anderson’s parents found him injured and provided first aid, but he later died at a hospital.
Photos and videos posted on social media showed flattened homes and downed trees in a lakeside neighborhood near Union Lake.
Dan Taylor, a Union City resident, raced home from his cleaning job at a nearby hospital to find his brother and two dogs safe, but discovered a tree had fallen on his home of 20 years.
“I didn’t know what to say. I was lost for words,” Taylor said Saturday. “I’m just thankful that my brother’s all right, my dogs, because it could have turned bad. We’re not guaranteed of anything.”
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said she would declare a state of emergency in Branch, Cass, and St. Joseph counties. Disaster relief workers went door to door in Union City and Three Rivers to offer meals and cleanup supplies.
Eastern Oklahoma
In Beggs, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) south of Tulsa, a tornado killed two people inside a house on Friday, the Okmulgee County Sheriff’s Office said. Two others were taken to a hospital.
The tornado cut a roughly 4-mile (6.4-kilometer) path of damage through Okmulgee County, county emergency manager Jeff Moore said. Large trees toppled and power outages were reported across the area. A building at the Tulsa Tech Peoria campus in northern Tulsa was also damaged by a suspected tornado.
The National Weather Service reported seven preliminary tornado tracks in eastern Oklahoma on Friday, according to the state’s emergency operations center.
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt declared a state of emergency in several counties to free up support and resources.
The Beggs deaths followed a separate storm that killed two people — a 47-year-old woman and her 13-year-old daughter — in their vehicle in Fairview, in the western part of the state, on Thursday.
Threat Continues
The storm system’s threat persisted into Saturday, with tornado watches posted in the afternoon for eastern Ohio, northern West Virginia, and western Pennsylvania and New York.
Experts recommend keeping a weather radio and having a plan for shelter in place before tornadoes strike.