7 tornadoes strike in 1 night, the most ever during August in Michigan

Frank Witsil, Detroit Free Press
Updated ·2 min read
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Seven tornadoes touched down in Michigan during the late-night thunderstorms that rapidly swept across the lower half of the state earlier this week, the National Weather Service said.

Of those, six were in southeast Michigan, with one of them crossing from Ingham County into Livingston County, and it was rated EF-2, which is considered significant, and it was the strongest of the seven. The scale, known as the Enhanced Fujita Scale, runs from 0-5, weakest to strongest based on wind speeds.

"This is about a once every five- to 10-year event," weather service meteorologist Steve Freitag said Saturday, adding that for Michigan, it was a new record, "the most single-day number of tornadoes in August."

Mark Benjamin, of Williamston, looks up at a plane passing overhead while standing where a 10-foot-tall metal grain bin stood before a tornado ripped it away, sending it into a field, as well as destroying two barns and a corn bin on his property on Friday, Aug. 25, 2023. One of the hundred-year-old barns housed farm machinery and props from his Bestmaze haunted corn maze across the street that he has operated for 22 years.

The first tornado to be confirmed, the EF-2 twister, touched down at about 9:40 p.m. in the Williamston and Webberville area in Ingham County. With winds swirling at more than 111 mph, it flipped a couple dozen vehicles, including tractor-trailers, along Interstate 96. In the storm, one person was killed.

The twister, meteorologists said, headed into Livingston County and then dissipated.

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Another tornado, the only one on the west side of the state, struck Rockford, north of Grand Rapids and not far from Rockford High School.

A third tornado touched down at about 10:20 p.m. with wind speeds of about 80 mph in Canton, just northwest of Pheasant Run Golf course, downing and uprooting trees. The EF-0 twister headed southeast, across Summit Parkway and Canton Circle Road. Near Sheldon Road, it felled a tree onto a house.

Minutes later, at 10:23, another twister struck Belleville, near the Wagner Homestead Farm and tracking southeast, uprooting trees along the way and hitting Mobile Manor Trail Park. It was an EF-1, intense enough to rip siding off homes before dissipating between Pebblebrook Drive and Fret Road.

Dan Lietzau, of Brighton, center, uses a chainsaw to cut branches off a fallen tree in a woman’s yard on Noble Road in Williamston on Friday, Aug. 25, 2023, after a tornado touched down nearby, causing damage to the area.
Dan Lietzau, of Brighton, center, uses a chainsaw to cut branches off a fallen tree in a woman’s yard on Noble Road in Williamston on Friday, Aug. 25, 2023, after a tornado touched down nearby, causing damage to the area.

Near Newport, in Monroe County, a 100-mph tornado touched down at 10:38 p.m., hitting Frenchtown Villa Mobile Home Park. The EF-1 tornado tore the roof off homes and flipped over a manufactured home. It also hit the Meijer Distribution Center, taking out power poles along the way.

A minute later, another EF-1 tornado blasted South Rockwood, also in Monroe County, and then moved more than 5 miles into Wayne County. It swirled at about 105 mph., snapping the tops off trees, sheering shingles off homes near Brandon Road.

The last tornado, also an EF-1, was confirmed near Gibraltar in Wayne County, where, with 100-mph winds, it toppled trees before crossing to Edmond Island and then Horse Island. By about 10:48 p.m., it had dissipated.

In addition to the Ingham County death, there was another one in Lansing, and three others in a two-car collision in Kent County, where a mother and two children reportedly were killed and the driver of each car was injured.

Contact Frank Witsil: 313-222-5022 or fwitsil@freepress.com.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: 7 tornadoes confirmed in Michigan in 1 night, sets August record