By Jon King / jking@whmi.com


The National Weather Service confirmed four tornado touchdowns Saturday night, including one in White Lake Township.

More than 125,000 homes and businesses were left without power after the storms rolled through, blowing down trees, power lines and poles.

Other tornadoes were confirmed in Clayton Township in western Genesee County, Armada in northern Macomb County and in Port Austin in Michigan’s Thumb region.

The Detroit News reports that the Armada tornado was classified as EF-1 with winds up to 105 mph. It hit at about 7:54pm and lasted 14 minutes, cutting a swath that the National Weather Service said was approximately 3.6 miles long and 700 yards wide.

The White Lake Township tornado, with up to 100 mph winds, also hit at 7:54pm, but was only on the ground for about three minutes. It followed a path 1.8 miles long and 400 yards wide. Thomas Hardesty, Oakland County’s director of Emergency Management and Homeland Security Department, told the Detroit News that the damage there was “low to moderate.”

The tornado that hit Clayton Township was about two hours earlier, around 6:21pm, but also had 100 mph winds. It ended about five minutes after touchdown, following a path 1.9 miles long and 200 yards wide.

As of this morning, DTE Energy is reporting more than 72,000 total outages across its service area, with approximately 20,000 in the White Lake area. Restoration is expected late tonight or early Tuesday.

In the aftermath, the Salvation Army of Livingston County responded by sending Lt. Rob Leach with their food canteen to help feed first responders in the area.

Warning sirens did sound in Livingston County on Saturday night, but not because there was a tornado sighting. Livingston County Emergency Manager Therese Cremonte says the sirens were activated because the National Weather Service indicated possible wind gusts of 70mph, which she told WHMI would be, “dangerous for anyone outdoors and can create damage & downed power lines. The sirens are a system specifically set up to tell people who are outdoors to take shelter.”


Top two photos are courtesy of the White Lake Township Police Department Facebook page.

Bottom photo - courtesy of Steve Moor.