Barns destroyed, trees felled after tornado rips through Ingham and Livingston counties
WEBBERVILLE, Mich. (FOX 2) - Sharon Showerman and her husband Gary say they've never seen anything like the damage waiting for them on their Webberville farm Friday morning.
The Ingham County farm was hit by severe weather Thursday night that brought dangerous wind gusts and at least one tornado that was confirmed just south of the farm in Livingston County.
"Well I'm devastated," she said, 10 hours after the storms moved across Michigan. "We've had trees uprooted, but nothing like this. Thank the lord it didn't hit the house."
It did demolish the couple's barn and sent roof pieces into nearby trees.
Even with the work ahead, Showerman still had a sense of humor about things.
"The tree I'd like to have gone down didn't go down. It's a walnut tree and makes a mess, but of course that's fine."
The couple said they had no idea the storm had hit their property, saying they only heard intense winds and rain at the time of the storm. Fortunately, neither was injured.
Another family had already wrapped a tarp around the exposed parts of their home after tree branches came crashing through.
"It's a mess. Everyone is well. It's the first time a tornado of this magnitude had hit," said Charlies Pierce. He said one of the felled trees went through the front window of the home. "The whole house was shaking."
MORE: Tornado confirmed in Ingham and Livingston Counties
Pierce said the storm sounded like a high pitch wind when it reached its worst and they sheltered in the basement. It lasted for about 45 minutes.
Storm damage that felled a tree and sent a limb into a home in Ingham County.
Much of I-96 in Ingham and Livingston counties are now closed thanks to the damage. An EF1 tornado confirmed to have touched down in before traveling toward the highway led to cars being knocked over, tree branches falling, and power lines being downed.
Michigan State Police said both directions of I-96 between Williamston Road and M-52 were closed as they worked to clean the highway. It's unclear when it will reopen.
Several Metro Detroit highways also suffered flooding thanks to two straight days of rough weather. That includes portions of I-94, I-75, and I-275.
The storms also knocked out power for some 430,000 homes across Michigan, including more than 248,000 DTE customers and 181,241 Consumers customers. DTE said it would have 80% of affected homes' power restored by Saturday, with the rest of the outages fixed by Sunday.
In Wayne County, a state of emergency was declared due to widespread damage in Canton, Plymouth and other portions of the western end of the county.
