Trees uprooted, roofs ripped off, power out in most of Armada
ARMADA, Mich. (FOX 2) - Saturday night, parts of Metro Detroit were under tornado warnings for a bit a severe storm pushed southeast into the area. One of those areas was in Armada in Macomb County where trees were blown over and multiple roofs were ripped off structures.
More than 12 hours after the tornado warnings ended and the storms pushed all the way out of Michigan, SkyFOX got our first visuals from the damage, which shows massive trees knocked over and roofs ripped off of buildings.
In a video sent to FOX 2, damage from downtown Armada showed a roof ripped off a business in downtown. The video showed multiple trees down and power lines hanging low.
Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel said it's believed that it was a tornado that hit Armada but the NWS is still working to confirm it. He said that they were confident it was a tornado based on radar but have to confirm it with the damage caused.
A FOX 2 caller said that they believed a tornado touched down in the area around 8 p.m., which was when the tornado warnings were issued for Macomb County and Oakland County.
Michigan State Police said there were no reports of any injuries.
The National Weather Service is the organization that will confirm a tornado but that will not come until Sunday, at the earliest.
Sunday morning, NWS Meteorologist Kyle Klein told FOX 2 that there was evidence of a "spin-up" in Armada and one in Oakland County near White Lake as well, where a downdraft created a spin-up and a suspected tornado there as well.
Klein said meteorologists on the scenes will examine tree damage, building damage, and the pattern of the damage. He said that will determine if the damage was created by a straight-line wind or tornado.
Around 6 p.m. on Sunday, the NWS confirmed an EF-1 tornado hit Armada with winds of 105 mph. Unlike the Oakland County tornado, this one was 700 yards wide and stayed on the ground for about 3.6 miles before finally lifting.
This is Macomb County's first tornado since August 20, 2014.
Tornado warnings were issued around 8 p.m. and all were lifted by 8:30 p.m.
Macomb County shut down Armada and urged people not to try to go into the city as there were downed trees and power lines throughout the area.
As the storms rolled through the area, more than 123,000 DTE customers were knocked offline.
