{"id":511305,"date":"2026-03-08T14:41:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-08T14:41:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/511305\/"},"modified":"2026-03-08T14:41:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-08T14:41:09","slug":"tornadoes-kill-several-people-in-michigan-oklahoma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/511305\/","title":{"rendered":"Tornadoes kill several people in Michigan, Oklahoma"},"content":{"rendered":"

Severe storm systems tore through the central United States<\/a> on Friday and Saturday, leaving behind devastation and several dead.<\/p>\n

So far, eight people were reportedly killed due to the extreme weather<\/a>. Four people were reported killed in Oklahoma and four others died in the state of Michigan.<\/p>\n

“Severe weather struck Major County last night and tragically claimed the lives of a mother and daughter,” Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt posted on X.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Michigan’s Branch County Sheriff’s Office said a tornado touched down near the community of Union City in the southern part of the state on Friday, killing three people and injuring 12.<\/p>\n

“Our thoughts are with those who have lost family, friends, and property during this incident,” the Branch County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Some 50 miles (80 kilometers) west of that location, a tornado reportedly hit Cass County, where officials said one person was killed and more than 500 people were without power.<\/p>\n

\"DamageForecasters say it is likely that three distinct tornadoes touched down in MichiganImage: Devin Anderson-Torrez\/MLive\/AP Photo\/picture alliance<\/p>\n

On Saturday, rescuers were searching for survivors under rubble, while authorities began the painstaking process of cleaning up scattered debris.<\/p>\n

Disaster relief workers were going door to door in the Union City and Three Rivers areas to offer meals and other assistance, state officials said.<\/p>\n

State of emergency in Michigan<\/p>\n

The severe thunderstorms began in the neighboring state of Indiana, which appear to have sent off multiple tornadoes into southern Michigan,\u00a0Lonnie Fisher of\u00a0the National Weather Service (NWS) said on Saturday.<\/p>\n

“Mostly likely there were three distinct tornadoes, but we won’t know 100% for sure until they finish the survey,” he stated, adding that the agency sent teams to the region to evaluate the damage and confirm tornadoes.<\/p>\n

\"DebrisIndividuals caught in a tornado usually have just minutes to find shelterImage: Devin Anderson-Torrez\/MLive\/AP Photo\/picture alliance<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer activated a state emergency operations center “to coordinate an all-hands-on-deck response to severe weather in southwestern Michigan.”<\/p>\n

The NWS forecasted strong storms and flash flood risks on Saturday stretching from the midwestern Great Lakes region to Texas.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Spring storms typically occur in the region in what many call tornado season<\/a>, which generally begins at various times in different parts of the US.<\/p>\n

Tornadoes can form unexpectedly and within minutes, leaving individuals to scramble for shelter with short notice.<\/p>\n

Edited by: Dmytro Hubenko<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Severe storm systems tore through the central United States on Friday and Saturday, leaving behind devastation and several…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":511306,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,3,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":["post-511305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-news","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511305","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=511305"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511305\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/511306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=511305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=511305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=511305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}