A tree fell on a van in Michigan, killing three children, during a fierce weekend storm that also claimed the life of an 84-year-old man in an Amish buggy in Indiana, authorities said Monday.
Meanwhile, more potentially dangerous weather moved through parts of the Southeast United States.
Over the weekend, freezing rain and extreme winds proved too much for trees and power lines, and utilities in Michigan were gradually restoring power, though 276,000 outages remained as of Monday afternoon, according to poweroutage.us. Indiana and Wisconsin had reduced their outages to approximately 80,000.
The victims of Kalamazoo County’s fallen tree were a 2-year-old girl, her 4-year-old brother, and an 11-year-old cousin. Three other people in the van were injured on Sunday, approximately 130 miles (209 kilometers) west of Detroit.
“The family could not have avoided this,” Sheriff Richard Fuller told reporters, explaining that the tree struck the passenger area where the children were sitting.
“It was such a large tree that it came across two lanes of traffic and out the other side of the vehicle for about 12 more feet,” the sheriff said.
The area was under a severe thunderstorm warning at the time, one of several issued throughout southern Michigan on Sunday.
At roughly the same time, an Amish buggy in Middlebury, Indiana, flipped due to high winds, killing Lonnie Yoder, according to police.
Michigan’s northern Lower Peninsula remained in disarray Monday, with thousands of trees down due to freezing rain on Saturday. Police urged people to stay off the roads. The Alpena News stated that it was unable to publish a newspaper due to a lack of power in Alpena County.
The Mackinac Bridge, a 5-mile (8-kilometer) span connecting Michigan’s two peninsulas, was closed due to the risk of thick ice falling on cars from the bridge’s towers and cables.
In Valparaiso, Indiana, investigators believe severe crosswinds blew over a tractor trailer Sunday afternoon, killing the driver on Pratt Industries’ property, according to the Porter County sheriff’s office. Jagbir Singh, 34, from Ontario, Canada, was discovered outside the passenger compartment.
WSBT-TV reported that a warehouse in Elkhart, Indiana, was destroyed, but no injuries were reported.
Winds in southwest Ohio toppled a church steeple, damaged homes, and flipped campers on Sunday night, according to authorities. There were no injuries reported.
WSMV-TV reported storm damage in several Tennessee counties, including Maury and Humphreys. Humphreys County Sheriff Chris Davis reported widespread damage, including the tearing off of a house’s roof. The homeowners were trapped inside but unharmed.
On Monday, the National Weather Service reported that thunderstorm clusters were spreading across much of the Southeast, accompanied by strong to severe wind gusts and possibly a few tornadoes. Five students were injured in Dothan, Alabama, when a storm collapsed a portion of their school’s gymnasium roof, according to news reports.
Flood watches have been issued for 11 states, ranging from northeast Texas to Arkansas and all the way to West Virginia’s western border. According to the weather service, up to 1 foot (30.5 centimeters) of rain is possible in some areas. This is expected to be a high-impact event with life-threatening flooding.”
