Clean up begins after strong storms rip through West Michigan
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — Crews have begun cleaning up after a line of strong storms barreled across West Michigan on Thursday night, bringing trees down onto homes and power lines, and spawning radar-confirmed tornadoes.
Nexstar's WOOD counted no less than 30 severe thunderstorm warnings and tornado warnings for West Michigan counties throughout the night, and radar indicated there were likely twisters.
The National Weather Service will send out crews in the coming days to confirm where tornadoes may have touched down and, if so, how strong they were.
WOOD's Storm Team 8 saw radar confirmation of a tornado on the ground just north of Martin in southeastern Allegan County. A debris signature confirmed another tornado on the ground near the Caledonia area.
According to the National Weather Service, the Battle Creek Executive Airport observation site experienced a wind gust of 76 mph at 11:09 p.m. before going offline, which Storm Team 8 said could indicate it was hit by straight-line winds or possibly a tornado.
Strong winds caused power outages for about 189,000 customers as of 9 a.m. on Friday.