Tornado hits US’ northern Michigan, at least two dead
- ‘We don’t get a whole lot of tornadoes … more are downstate than they are up to the north. It’s pretty unusual,’ science and operations officer said
- ‘There have been trailers picked up and turned over on top of each other. Just a very large debris field,’ county fire chief said
A second person died in a tornado that hit northern Michigan in the United States, authorities reported Saturday, as crews searched a mobile home park that was virtually destroyed by a rare twister in an area with no weather sirens.
The person, who was in their 70s, lived in the Nottingham Forest mobile home park in Gaylord, which was among the first sites hit by the tornado Friday afternoon, said state police Lieutenant Derrick Carroll.
The first reported death, another person in their 70s, also lived there, he said.
“There have been trailers picked up and turned over on top of each other. Just a very large debris field,” said Chris Martin, Otsego County fire chief. “Crews are in there right now doing a secondary search with heavy equipment.” He said there’s “probably 95 per cent destruction in there.”
Gaylord, a city of about 4,200 people, is about 230 miles (370 kilometres) northwest of Detroit.
More than 40 people were injured. Carroll said at least one person was not accounted for by Saturday morning, though that person didn’t live in the mobile home park.