Overview
- Lines of severe thunderstorms that swept across the Great Lakes Tuesday night into early Wednesday triggered Tornado Watch 113 for much of Lower Michigan and northern Indiana until 4 a.m. EDT, with forecasters noting a risk for a few tornadoes, 70 mph winds and large hail.
- Wisconsin and Michigan faced repeated tornado warnings and very large hail Tuesday, including softball-sized stones near Maple Bluff, while a destructive tornado near Union Center, Wisconsin, damaged buildings in what officials called a dangerous situation with no injuries reported.
- Power outages reached tens of thousands across Wisconsin and Michigan, and flood alerts expanded with a long flood watch for Metro Detroit and a forecast for the Muskegon River near Evart to reach major flood stage by Thursday.
- Michigan’s flood concerns escalated after a state of emergency at the Cheboygan Lock and Dam Complex and a notice to evacuate low areas along the Cheboygan River due to a local levee breach, as additional pumps worked to push water toward Lake Huron.
- National Weather Service teams are surveying clusters of damage in Kansas and across Michigan to determine if tornadoes or straight-line winds hit sites such as Ottawa, Hillsdale, Otsego–Plainwell and Carson City, while forecasts call for more rounds of severe storms from Texas to the Midwest through Friday with hail and damaging winds the primary threats.