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EF2 tornado in Kalamazoo County, Michigan

Tornado May 7, 2024 · Kalamazoo County, Michigan

EF2
Rating
10.9 mi
Path length
300 yd
Path width
12
Injuries
$50.0M
Damage as recorded
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 300 yards (0.17 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF2 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF2 is considerable damage: roofs torn off well-built houses, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, consistent with estimated gusts of 111–135 mph. The rating comes from a survey of the worst damage after the storm, not from a wind measurement, so it says as much about what the tornado hit as about how strong it was.

What the National Weather Service wrote

An EF-2 tornado touched down near the intersection of South 10th Street and West R Avenue and traveled east northeast for around 11 miles until it lifted north of East N Avenue just west of 31st street. Many homes, including two mobile home parks, were severely damaged. Over 500 homes were impacted, 305 of which were in Portage. Twenty three of those homes were destroyed. A number of businesses had significant damage. Thousands of trees were either snapped or uprooted. A large section of the roof of an industrial warehouse also collapsed near the Kalamazoo/Battle Creek international airport. Twelve people were injured. There were no fatalities.

The wider storm

Severe thunderstorms developed during the evening hours of May 7th, resulting in several reports of damaging wind gusts and large hail. An EF-2 tornado struck southern Kalamazoo county as well resulting in twelve injuries and hundreds of millions of dollars in damage to area homes and businesses.

Began near Texas Corners (42.1900, -85.6700).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1184863. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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