A two-year-old boy was killed and his mother was injured in the Detroit area on Wednesday after an unexpected tornado sent a tree crashing into their home.
The toddler’s mother was reportedly lying in bed with the child when a massive tree was uprooted and fell onto the family’s house and through the roof, landing on top of them, officials said.
Livonia Fire Chief Robert Jennison said his crews spent more than an hour trying to remove the roof and parts of the tree to free the family from their home.
The toddler was pronounced dead at the scene, officials said, while the mother sustained critical injuries and was taken to hospital.
A two-week-old sibling who was in a crib in a separate room was not injured but taken to the hospital for an evaluation, Livonia Fire Department Chief Robert Jennison said.
“This is a terrible tragedy for our community,” Mayor Maureen Miller Brosnan said in the statement. “Our hearts are broken, too, and we send our deepest sympathies.”
The tragedy occurred as a quick-developing tornado struck several neighborhoods in the city on Wednesday afternoon, bringing winds of 90 to 95 mph, according to the local office of the National Weather Service.
The tornado was estimated to have been on the ground for over five miles and, during its trek, damaged homes and trees on the western side of the metro.
Following the tornado, tens of thousands were left without power, with more than 20,000 people without power as of Thursday morning, according to poweroutages.us.
City officials said the tornado was largely unexpected, with Livonia Emergency Preparedness Director Brian Kahn adding that the city did not receive any advance warning from the National Weather Service or tornado reports which typically alert officials to any upcoming extreme weather events.
A representative from the weather service called it a spin-up storm that didn’t show up on their radars in enough time to issue a warning, according to city officials.
“Obviously, this is a very traumatic scene. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the friends and family of the victims. This was a tough day,” Jennison said.
An average of 16 tornadoes occur in Michigan each year. Tornadoes are known to develop rapidly, with little advanced warning in the state.
Meanwhile, in Maryland, a tornado was spotted in a suburban area of Montgomery County northwest of Washington, with dozens of trees damaged or uprooted.
Officials in the state said emergency workers responded to several reports that people were trapped inside structures that collapsed, with reports of three collapsed structures in Gaithersburg where people were trapped inside, Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service spokesperson Pete Piringer said.
Piringer added that the most significant damage occurred when a large tree fell on a single-family house, leaving five people injured, including one with traumatic injuries. He said they were all transported to a hospital.
David Pazos, Montgomery County Fire and Rescue assistant chief, said there were a lot of power outages. According to poweroutages.us, more than 1,800 homes and businesses are without power in Maryland as of Thursday morning.
“We don’t know what people’s needs are, so we’re having to go door to door to assess whether they need fire and rescue services or need relocation because of damage to their homes,” Pazos said.
