The violent 95-mph tornado that blew through Livonia on Wednesday, killing a 2-year-old and putting his mother in the hospital, touched down so quickly and without clear radar indication that the National Weather Service did not issue a warning for it, the federal agency said.
It's unclear whether a watch or warning could have saved the toddler's life, or whether human-caused climate change, what many scientists conclude is a gradual warming of the planet, is causing more frequent and more intense tornado strikes.
But Wednesday's tragedy underscored why the weather predictions — and alerts — are so vital, and why tornadoes, even those, like this one, which is considered weak by meteorologists, are so terrifying. A violently rotating column of air can strike instantly, tearing up everything in its path.
In Livonia, authorities said, the fast-swirling winds brought a tree down, sending it through a house's roof and crushing the mother and toddler as they slept.
The EF1 tornado touched down at 3:30 p.m., 21 minutes after the weather statement was issued, and lasted nine minutes, going 5½ miles, the weather service concluded. The EF rating is based on the Enhanced Fujita scale, which goes from 0 to 5, with EF5 tornadoes spinning at more than 200 mph.
In addition to taking a life, damaging trees, cars and homes, the fast-moving storm collapsed a gas station canopy in Farmington Hills and left thousands without electricity. As 6 p.m. Thursday, DTE Energy said it was trying to reconnect power lines for more than 8,000 utility customers.
By early Thursday, a GoFundMe account, had been set up by a co-worker for the injured mother, identified as Corinne, to help raise money to support her, the loss of her son, Cooper, and her family, which included, Corinne's mother and newborn daughter, who were not harmed.
"There was a special weather statement for thunderstorm wind gusts of 40 mph issued for Wayne County at the time," Brian Cromwell, a weather service meteorologist, told the Free Press early Thursday. But, "there were no watches or warnings in effect."
A special weather statement, Cromwell explained, is essentially a "step down from a severe thunderstorm warning," and to tell the public: "Hey, there's some hazardous weather, but it's not quite reaching severe criteria," but does not carry the same urgency of a tornado warning, which indicates imminent danger.
'A terrible tragedy'
Firefighters worked for nearly an hour to lift the tree up with high-pressure air bags to save the victims, but the toddler was pronounced dead at the scene as his mother, who was in critical condition, was rushed to Livonia Trinity Hospital for treatment.
"This is a terrible tragedy for our community," Livonia Mayor Maureen Miller Brosnan said in a statement that noted "every available" Livonia firefighter was dispatched as well as the Western Wayne County Urban Search and Rescue, to save residents. "Our hearts are broken, too, and we send our deepest sympathies."
Kevin Martyka, who lives five houses away, said that he didn’t realize how severe the storm was until he looked outside and saw tree branches raining down from the sky and exploding onto the pavement, adding: "They all say a tornado sounds like a train, but it sounded like a (Boeing) 747."
He said he saw sparks flash as the power lines in his backyard popped, and when a thick-trunked tree in his front yard bent at a 45-degree angle, that's when he realized he had to seek safety in the basem*nt.
After the tornado passed, he joined in with other neighbors who grabbed chain saws to cut the fallen trees.
Kimberly Beier, a nurse at the nearby Livonia Trinity Hospital who lives across the street from the house that was damaged, jumped into action. She heard screams and ran toward them, finding the mother and young son crushed under the fallen tree.
"I thought if I could give him CPR, it maybe would’ve helped, but I couldn’t get to him," she said, adding that no matter how hard she tried, the trunk and branches were too big to move. "I felt horrible that all I could do was walk away."
Martyka, like other residents, also said he wondered whether the tragedy could’ve been avoided if only the tornado sirens had sounded, which might have alerted the mother and her son to move to the room where the grandmother and newborn were.
More storm injuries
Wednesday's storms also damaged a Citigo gas station and sparked a potentially dangerous fire, toppled a large tree that crushed two trucks, critically injuring the the drivers, and spawned a smaller tornado in northern Michigan, at a golf club.
The EF0 tornado touched down in Crawford County for about a minute. The tornado, with winds of up to 80 mph, caused some damage to the Forest Dunes Golf Club, which is about 10 miles from Roscommon, WWTV/WWUP-TV reported.
Just before 3 p.m., the Oakland County Sheriff's Office said, a tree fell on South Duck Lake Road, south of Livingston Road, in Highland Township, hit two trucks, critically injuring two men — a 23-year-old from Highland and a 35-year-old from Columbus, Ohio — who were wearing seat belts and were taken to the hospital.
And at about 3:45 p.m. at 10 Mile and Middlebelt in Farmington Hills, the violent storm winds causing the gas station pump canopy to collapse, crushing two cars and injuring one person. The city's five fire stations responded and gas station employees initiated the emergency shut-off procedures, which extinguished the flames.
The sole injury was minor, and the person was taken to a local hospital as a precaution, Lauracindy Plague Davila, the Farmington Hills communications manager, said.
As the storms moved east, there were reports that several people in the Washington, D.C., suburbs were injured and Baltimore was faced with the threat of flooding. In Montgomery County, Maryland, five people were injured there when a tree fell on a house, a local official said on social media.
Alerts and warnings
Last month, thunderstorms and tornadoestore through western Michigan and neighboring states, leading the weather service to issue, for the first time, a tornado emergency, the highest alert level, which was credited with saving lives.
Emergency management agencies sounded sirens and scrambled first responders to evacuate areas.
Three tornadoes touched down in Michigan, with Kalamazoo County — which includes Portage and thePavilion Estates Mobile Home Community— taking the brunt of the destruction, which included 176 homesin the mobile home park, a FedEx facility.
No one, however, was killed.
A couple weeks later, at least five people died and dozens more were injured as tornadoes struck Iowa.
On Wednesday, however, Livonia residents told the Free Press they did not hear storm sirens, which are issued by local emergency management agencies as an alert to take cover, and weather service meteorologists said that the tornado developed too rapidly for them to issue a warning.
"Essentially, the event had a very brief and weak circulation on radar," Cromwell said of the storms passing through metro Detroit. "There were a number of these showing up on radar from events, none of which had previously produced anything."
In other words: There was little indication a tornado would materialize.
Effects of climate change
Scientists are looking at whether climate change has an influence on the frequency and intensity of tornadoes, but, unlike temperature or precipitation trends, that's more difficult to determine, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the regulatory agency charged with forecasting weather.
"So far," the agency said last year, "the majority of research stops short of connecting historical changes in tornado behavior to a warming climate. In addition to the physical complexities of tornado formation, tornado trends can be affected by increasing city footprints (more things for tornadoes to damage), improving technology (modern radar can better identify tornadoes), and changes in tornado reporting and surveying methods overtime."
More tornadoes, especially weak ones, could be connected to better identification of them.
But there is some research, the federal agency also said, to suggest climate change is connected to an increased risk of more off-season tornadoes in a warmer future climate. That may mean more tornadoes at a time of year when people are least expecting it, another cause for concern.
"When the warnings go out, it's important to pay attention," Cromwell said, adding that tornadoes are deadly because they are so violent and form so suddenly. To be safe, he said, know that any severe weather in the area, whether there's a warning or not "is an indication to be aware."
Contact Frank Witsil: 313-222-5022 or fwitsil@freepress.com.
