Possible Tornado Flips 15 Semis, Causes 25-Car Pileup In Michigan

Photo: Ingham County Emergency Management

If you feel like the weather has been out of control lately, you’re not the only one. Wildfires in Hawaii. A hurricane headed for California. Ridiculously hot temperatures across large parts of the country. Storms knocking out power to hundreds of thousands of houses. It’s all getting to be a bit much. It’s also causing some truly nasty traffic situations.

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The latest weather-related bad news comes out of Michigan, where M Live reports that the National Weather Service is investigating whether or not a tornado touched down on Interstate 96 in Ingham County. Whether it did or not, though, the damage is already done. Eighty mile-per-hour winds were reported, along with lightning and hail, flipping 15 tractor-trailers and causing at least one 25-car pileup.

In a statement, the Ingham County Emergency Management Team said:

I-96 remains closed between Williamston Road and M-52 due to trees down over the expressway, with MDOT crews working on clearing that up. M-52 has just reopened but there is still debris along it near I-96, and many of the roads in and around Williamston and Webberville remain impassible due to trees. Avoid driving in that part of the county.

Unfortunately there were some injuries in some cars and trucks on the expressway when the tornado hit. Fire departments have checked on the damaged houses and destroyed barns and while people are shaken up, there are no injuries to report from buildings.

According to WILX, so far, one person has died, and several more were seriously injured. As the storm crossed the state of Michigan, M Live reports that four other people died either in wrecks or from trees falling on their houses. Additionally, about 375,000 homes and businesses were left without power.

Michigan wasn’t the only state affected by storms last night, either. The Weather Channel reports that Ohio got hit hard, too. In total, about 650,000 homes across both states were still without power as of this morning.