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(FOX 2) - Rounds of severe weather and high winds stormed across the state on Friday, leaving destruction and power outages.
A wall of showers and thunderstorms is trekking across the lower half of Michigan's lower peninsula, leaving behind flooding, damage and debris. Meanwhile, remote storms ahead of Friday night's large system left Southern Michigan communities ripped apart.
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Deadly apparent tornado followed with storm system across Michigan
The large system is expected to enter Metro Detroit Friday night as it crosses the state going West to East. As of 7:55 p.m., no Southeast Michigan counties had been issued severe weather warnings. The National Weather Service (NWS) has issued a dense fog warning for the SE area until 1 a.m. Meanwhile, the NWS reported a severe thunderstorm warning for Shiawassee County at 7:50 p.m.
Severe weather in Michigan Updates:
The large system is expected to enter Metro Detroit Friday night as it crosses the state going West to East.
As of 7:55 p.m., no Southeast Michigan counties had been issued severe weather warnings. The National Weather Service (NWS) has issued a dense fog warning for the SE area until 1 a.m.
Meanwhile, the NWS reported a severe thunderstorm warning for Shiawassee County at 7:50 p.m.
Tornado Warnings in Michigan:
The Branch County Sheriff says three people are dead, and twelve others are injured after an apparent tornado went through Union City. Meanwhile, a fourth person was killed in Cass County. Meanwhile, Cass County officials declared a state of emergency.
The National Weather Service issued tornado warnings for Mendon, Sherwood, and Union City around 4:30 p.m. Videos posted on social media showed a tornado blowing by Union Lake.
Officials said to look out for quarter-size hail and flying debris. People were told to take shelter in a basement or interior room on the lowest floor.
Consumers Energy also reported several thousand outages in the area around Union City and Joppa, southwest of Battle Creek.
Video from counties in St. Joseph and Branch showed buildings, stores, and homes damaged after extreme winds blasted their way through Southwest Michigan.
According to Michigan's emergency management, the governor had activated the state's operations center.
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Videos capture footage of tornados ripping through Southern Michigan
The National Weather Service issued a tornado warning in the area as warmer temperatures and windy weather moved across Michigan. The area impacted as of 4:20 p.m. was northeastern St. Joseph and northwestern Branch counties. At 4:18 p.m., the NWS said a severe thunderstorm capable of producing a tornado was located near Colon, 14 miles east of Three Rivers, moving northeast. Officials say to look out for quarter-size hail and flying debris. People in the area have been told to take shelter in a basement or interior room on the lowest floor.
Southwest Michigan devastated by severe weather as injuries reported from damaging winds
Michigan was struck by severe weather mid-Friday afternoon, leaving communities in the southwest portion of the state damaged by multiple tornadoes.
Governor activates emergency operations center
Governor Gretchen Whitmer activated the State Emergency Operations Center in response to the severe weather.
The order is for Branch, Cass, and St. Joseph Counties. Injuries have been reported. The center said it was operating at a Level 3 monitoring status.
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The Source: FOX 2 used information from the National Weather Service for this report.