A deadly tornado powered by winds of up 95 mph touched down near Livonia’s western border Wednesday so quickly there wasn’t time to deploy the city’s emergency notification system before the twister cut a 5.5-mile path through the city, officials said Thursday.
The tornado that landed on Livonia’s western border was one of two that touched down Wednesday in Lower Michigan, with the other in Crawford County near Roscommon, according to the National Weather Service.
The Livonia tornado toppled a tree onto a house, killing a 2-year-old and severely injuring his mother and injuring his 2-week-old sibling. Trinity Health Michigan spokesman Bobby Maldonado said Thursday the mother remained in critical condition. Crews continued removing debris from roadways Thursday while assessing the tornado’s damage.
The tornado appeared without warning, said Kristin Houchins, Livonia’s director of communications.
“At the time the storm was coming through, the National Weather Service had issued a special weather statement — not even an advisory,” Houchins said. “There were no warnings. Our sirens are based on notifications from the National Weather Service’s Weather Spotters.
The weather service’s SKYWARN program deploys between 350,000 to 400,000 trained weather spotters nationwide.
“The storms apparently didn’t become severe until they hit Schoolcraft and 96, basically, right when they hit the Livonia border,” Houchins said. “The tornado continued for five miles until it dissipated at Seven Mile and Middle Belt.”
The weather service said it didn’t issue a warning because the tornado developed rapidly and did not allow the agency time to alert residents.
“We had a special weather statement out for the thunderstorm, which produced 40 mph winds, (but) we had a rapid development of the tornado right over Livonia, and it developed and dissipated very quickly, so that it was difficult to put out a warning on such a quick spin-up of a tornado,” said Steve Considine, a meteorologist with the service in White Lake Township.
City officials have fielded questions from residents demanding to know why no sirens were sounded to help prepare for the tornado, Houchins said.
“We have had some comments,” she said. “Fortunately, we have supporters in the community who are helping us get the correct information out. In a situation like this, people are sad, they’re upset, and angry, and it’s natural for them to look for someone to blame. I understand it. Unfortunately, you can’t blame Mother Nature.”
The storm rapidly swept through Summer Street before barreling toward other homes near Houghton and Mason Street but didn’t damage the home of Dave Okopny, 68. He said he was more concerned that he hadn’t heard or seen any warnings before the storm hit. Read more here…
