(WWJ) There are new, stunning details about a tornado that hit Union City in southwest Michigan last Friday afternoon.
The National Weather Service says the EF-3 tornado, which touched down at 4:35 p.m. on March 6, had winds of 160 miles per hour and was on the ground for 3.7 miles. The twister was 500 yards wide.
Surveyors say several homes and cottages were destroyed. A mobile home was picked up and thrown 100 yards with an occupant of the trailer suffering fatal injuries.
Two other fatalities as well as at least a dozen injuries were reported in that tornado, bringing the total number of people who were killed by tornados in Michigan on Friday to four.
The tornado rapidly touched down on the northwest side of Union Lake in northern Branch County and rapidly intensified as it moved along the northwest shore of the lake, the National Weather Service wrote in a summary.
Video footage indicated a multiple vortex tornado at its peak in the area of Prairie Rose Lane and Tuttle Road with chunks of ice being observed pulled from the lake.
The National Weather Service says the EF-3 tornado is the earliest EF3+ tornado in the calendar year for Michigan. The previous earliest was an EF3 that struck north of Ann Arbor on March 15, 2012. It's the strongest tornado in Michigan since an EF4 struck Kalamazoo and Eaton Counties on April 2, 1977.
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Sunday morning Gov. Gretchen Whitmer declared a state of emergency for Branch, Cass, and St. Joseph counties to assist with response and recovery efforts.
“This morning, I’ve declared a state of emergency for Branch, Cass, and St. Joseph counties. This state of emergency declaration will ensure that every state resource is available to assist in recovery efforts from the devastating tornadoes on Friday,” Whitmer said, in a statement. “Our entire state is wrapping its arms around Three Rivers, Union City, Edwardsburg, and everywhere in between. Our hearts are with the families who lost loved ones and the Michiganders who were injured."
The governor was planning to tour the impacted areas and assess the damage later Sunday.
According to the National Weather Service, this was the deadliest tornado in Michigan since 1980.
Read more about the tornadoes that hit southwestern Michigan here.