Video: Catastrophic Tornado Hits Northern Michigan, Kills One and Injures 44 Others

A rare and destructive tornado ripped through Gaylord, Michigan on Friday, killing at least one individual and injuring 44 others. Because extreme winds are uncommon in the state, which borders the Great Lakes, the destructive twister caused surprise and panic among the residents of the town.

At about 3:48 p.m. on Friday, a tornado ripped through Michigan's Gaylord, a town of approximately 4,200 people, flipping over cars, knocking down trees, and destroying businesses including a Goodwill and a Marathon gas station, as well as warehouses and other buildings, leaving behind a wave of destruction.

At least 23 injured people were taken to Otsego Memorial Hospital while 12 others were taken to Grayling Hospital, according to Munson Healthcare spokesperson Brian Lawson. Michigan State Police also reported to CNN that at least 44 individuals were injured in the wake of the tornado.

“I’ve never seen anything like this in my life,” Mayor Todd Sharrard said. “I’m numb.”

The twister is extremely rare for the city known colloquially as the “Alpine Village,” as the last time they had any extreme weather like this was a severe windstorm in 1998, when winds reached 100 mph. The Great Lakes usually evaporate extreme winds because they’re so cold.

Jim Keysor, a National Weather Service meteorologist from Gaylord, explained that the twister’s origin was a cold front moving in from Wisconsin that confronted hot and humid air over the city. Turning winds in the lower part of the atmosphere created the twister that the city experienced on Friday.

“Many kids and young adults would have never experienced any direct severe weather if they had lived in Gaylord their entire lives,” said Keysor.

Because this weather is so uncommon in northern Michigan, the city wasn’t prepared for its impact, Lieutenant Jim Gorno of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources explained.

The tornado after math in Gaylord near Winifred Road. @upnorthlive pic.twitter.com/RU2GIxUGj8

— Irelend Viscount (@viscount_news) May 20, 2022

“It is a busy downtown area, and it went right through it,” Gorno said. “We aren’t used to it up here. We don’t have sirens like in other parts of the country.”

Eyewitness Eddie Thrasher, 55, said he was sitting inside his car outside an auto parts store when the tornado blew into his sight.

“There are roofs ripped off businesses, a row of industrial-type warehouses,” he said. “RVs were flipped upside down and destroyed. There were a lot of emergency vehicles heading from the east side of town.”

Thrasher added that his adrenaline was “going like crazy” but that in less than five minutes, the storm ended.

Eyewitness Brandie Slough, 42, was with her teenaged daughter when the tornado came in. The two hid inside the restroom of Culver's and when the storm calmed and they came out of the building, they discovered that the windows of Culver’s had been blown out. Slough’s pickup truck had also been flipped upside down.

"We aren’t used to it up here. We don’t have sirens like other parts of the country"— https://t.co/0ADPlFAC3z

How to #Prepare for Tornadoes: https://t.co/uVfJ3F0r9n — covers all phases (before #tornado season; when #TornadoWatch issued; #Rebuilding etc.) #MIwx #Michigan #Gaylord pic.twitter.com/XqSeRwZU9h

— disaster.guide (@disasterguide_) May 21, 2022

“We shook our heads in disbelief but are thankful to be safe. At that point, who cares about the truck,” Slough said.

The city of Gaylord is currently under curfew until 8 a.m., according to officials.