1 week Ago By Alexa St. John
The first-ever tornado emergency in Michigan was issued on Tuesday, one of many called across the country in recent weeks as severe weather tears through states in the Plains and Midwest . As massive storms barrel East , homes and property have been destroyed and thousands of people have gone without power. The National Weather Service called an emergency for areas of Michigan on Tuesday evening amid forecasts of a damaging tornado and hail.
At the time, other spots in Michigan and portions of Illinois, Kentucky and Missouri were also under a tornado watch. Tuesday's severe weather followed an ugly twister that battered a small Oklahoma town and killed at least one person a day earlier. Tornado emergencies were also called in Nebraska and Iowa late last month.
During those storms, tornadoes flattened homes in suburban Omaha, Nebraska, and northeast, a small city of Minden, Iowa, also sustained damage. Tuesday marked the sixth emergency issued in the US this year. There were 15 issued in 2023.
Here’s what to know about a tornado emergency: A tornado emergency is the weather service’s highest alert level. One is issued when a few criteria are met during a rare weather situation. “Language like that gets people out of their chairs and into basements and storm shelters,” said Kevin Laws, a National Weather Service science and operations officer in Birmingham, Alabama.
“It spurs a different kind of reaction and action that you need to really save your life in those kind .
