Confirmed tornadoes struck Three Rivers and Union City this afternoon, destroying a Menards and damaging homes across multiple Michigan counties.
At least two tornadoes touched down in Southwest Michigan this afternoon, striking Three Rivers and Union City and leaving significant structural damage across St. Joseph, Branch and Cass counties. A third possible tornado was reported in St. Joseph County, though the National Weather Service was still investigating the precise track. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer activated the State Emergency Operations Center in response, with the center prepared to support local requests for assistance. Injuries were reported, though a full accounting had not been released yet.
The first confirmed tornado struck near Three Rivers around 4 p.m., with damage consistent with at least an EF2 rating. A Menards at U.S. 131 and Broadway Road absorbed a direct hit, with the back of the building collapsing and the roof and front sign sheared away. A second confirmed tornado touched down near Union City around 4:40 p.m., tearing through a residential area near Union Lake and snapping large trees onto homes along Tuttle Road.
Inside the Menards when the tornado hit
Levi Stokes and his 86-year-old grandmother, Margetta Stokes, were shopping at the Three Rivers Menards when the storm arrived. Stokes described the moment the tornado struck as instant chaos, with doors flying off, carts becoming airborne and people inside the store screaming and running. He said he spent part of the ordeal physically blocking shopping carts from hitting his grandmother as the building was torn apart around them.
His grandmother, who said she had never been in a tornado before, described the experience as frightening in terms that required no elaboration.
A Menards manager said staff saw the storm approaching and moved everyone toward the center of the building before it hit. All customers and employees made it to safety and no serious injuries were reported inside the store, though the structure itself sustained severe damage.
Three Rivers Health Hospital and several clinics on its campus also sustained damage from the tornado. Beacon Health System confirmed no patients or staff were hurt and that the hospital remained open without interruption as teams assessed the structural situation.
What the broader outbreak looks like as the weekend begins
Today’s Michigan tornadoes arrived as part of a multiday severe weather outbreak that has been moving through the nation’s midsection since Thursday night. At least four tornadoes were confirmed in the eastern Texas Panhandle, northwest Oklahoma and southern Kansas on Thursday, including one EF2 tornado that killed two people in northwest Oklahoma. Hail reaching 2.25 inches in diameter was recorded in Hall County, Texas.
Tornado watches were in effect This night from North Texas through parts of the Midwest. A watch covering eastern Oklahoma and North Texas, including Oklahoma City, Tulsa and Dallas, remained active through 10 p.m. CST. A separate watch covered southwestern Iowa, eastern Kansas, northwestern Missouri and southeastern Nebraska through the same time. A third watch was in effect for parts of southeastern Kansas and southwestern Missouri, including Springfield, through 1 a.m. CST, while a severe thunderstorm watch covered northern Illinois, northern Indiana and southwestern Michigan through 11 p.m. EST.
The Storm Prediction Center identified eastern Oklahoma, eastern Kansas, western Missouri and western Arkansas as the areas with the highest probability of additional EF2 or stronger tornadoes Tonight.
What comes next through the weekend and into next week
Saturday brings a continued severe weather risk from the Ohio Valley and Appalachians south into central and eastern Texas, with strong wind gusts and hail as the primary threats. Sunday is expected to be largely quiet across the affected region.
The pattern for tornadoes resets early next week. A strong cold front pushing into the central and eastern United States is expected to generate another round of severe storms Tuesday and Wednesday, with the Storm Prediction Center already flagging some of the same areas hit this week. The threat shifts slightly eastward by Wednesday, drawing in parts of Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana.
Flash flooding is a parallel concern through the middle of next week. Some areas from the Southern Plains into the Mississippi Valley could see three or more additional inches of rain, adding to flood risks that already produced water rescues south of Dallas on Wednesday and building flooding in Missouri and Ohio earlier in the week.