Strong thunderstorms with large hail and several possible rare winter tornadoes toppled trees, knocked out electricity, and damaged houses in the Chicago area and other parts of the Great Lakes on Wednesday morning.
In the town of Grand Blanc, Michigan, near Flint, shortly after midnight, a tornado felled trees, damaged homes and gas lines, but no one was injured, authorities reported. Officials helped transport several residents to the fire station and said they could return home once the aftermath is cleared.
In Geneva, a western suburb of Chicago, storms on Tuesday evening uprooted trees and also left some houses with broken windows and torn doors, said Fire Chief Mike Antenore.
Geneva resident Rebecca Harrington said that the storm "hit" her house with a cyclone and wrecked its foyer.
"The back of my house seems to be hanging in midair," Harrington told WGN-TV, which reported that no one was injured.
Warning sirens woke residents of central Ohio early Wednesday when a possible tornado passed near Columbus. The Madison County airport sustained significant damage, located between Dayton and Columbus. Fallen trees blocked roads in this area; they will not be reopened until debris is cleared.
According to PowerOutage.us, nearly 50,000 customers in Ohio and Michigan were without power early Wednesday.
If the tornado in Grand Blanc is confirmed, it will be only the second February tornado for this part of Michigan since records began in 1950, after a tornado in Wayne County on February 28, 1974, meteorologist Dave Cook of the Detroit Weather Service office said.
Cook said that warm weather and strong storms, including hail up to an inch in diameter (2.5 centimeters) on Tuesday and Wednesday, are unusual for this region at this time of year.
"This is in no way typical for late February," he said. "Basically, for southeastern Michigan, it’s a month earlier than scheduled."
The Weather Service office covering southwestern and central Ohio records winter tornadoes nearly every year, starting from 2012.
Meteorological teams will conduct surveys to confirm reports of tornadoes across the region.
