Ottawa County, Michigan
Tornadoes, hail, floods and severe storms recorded here between 1956 and 2026, from NOAA's Storm Events Database. Search an address to see which tornadoes came closest to it.
25
Tornado reports
108
Hail reports
23
Floods since 1996
530
All events
22
Deaths
$121.5M
Property damage
Tornado paths in Ottawa County
The part of each tornado’s path NOAA recorded in this county, 25 in all. Zoom in and the paths widen to their surveyed width.
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated
Year by year
All storm eventsTornadoes
NOAA's storm database records tornadoes back to 1950 and hail and thunderstorm wind back to 1955, but floods only from 1996 on. Older floods are missing here. For those, the U.S. Geological Survey's stream gauge records and flood reports are the place to look.
Most significant events
The strongest tornadoes, deadliest events and biggest damage here, up to 50.
Tornado F4 Tornado
A 16 year old boy drowned at North Park Beach in Ferrysburg due to rip currents.
A large tree fell on a home in Grand Haven and killed a 72 year old man. An 88 mph measured wind gust was recorded at Grand Valley State University in Allendale. Numerous trees and power lines were blown down across Ottawa county.
Scattered trees were snapped and uprooted across the extreme northern part of Ottawa county. MLive reported heavy damage to an apple orchard just northwest of Conklin.
A two foot diameter tree fell on a car in motion in Spring Lake. As a result the driver was killed and the passenger incurred minor injuries.
Law enforcement near Ravenna reported that a woman was killed when a tree fell on her as she was walking in Chester township.
Law enforcement near Rusk in Ottawa county determined that a man drowned while apparently tending to a drainage ditch with rising waters near a driveway. This occurred at Lake Michigan Drive and 112th Avenue in Robinson township.
A 76 year old farmer drowned while trying to remove boards from the Worley Drain Dam that regulates waters from Bass Creek. A significant number of roads were washed out in the city of Holland and water levels on roads in some low lying locations reached the roof tops of cars. A …
Michigan State Police EMD's Damage and Injury Assessment Report indicated $4,195,604 in public damage costs, 17 homes destroyed, 827 homes damaged, 8 businesses destroyed, and 129 businesses damaged. Total private damage costs were estimated at $25.0 Million in the city of Grand …
Widespread 10 to 16 inches of snow across Ottawa County. This fell in combined with wind gusts over 50 mph. Road conditions in snow and blowing snow resulted in a pileup with more than 100 vehicles on I-196, shutting the highway down for cleanup.
A fifty car pileup occurred in the afternoon on I-196 in Ottawa county due to whiteout conditions in snow and blowing snow. Twenty people were transferred to area hospitals with minor injuries, but there were no major injuries or fatalities.
Ottawa county emergency management reported that 372 homes were affected by flooding of the Grand River. Ten homes incurred major damage and 3 sustained minor damage. Several building complexes incurred significant flood damage, particularly in Grand Haven, Spring Lake and Ferrys…
Wind gusts up to around 60 mph downed tree limbs and power lines and resulted in widespread power outages.
A half to three quarters of an inch of freezing rain resulted in numerous downed trees, limbs, power lines and widespread power outages.
Peak wind gusts of up to 60 mph resulted in numerous downed trees and limbs and power lines and widespread power outages.
Significant flooding occurred on rivers and streams across Ottawa county due to heavy rainfall from early to mid April.
Radar data corroborated with ground truth reports indicates that a significant bow echo came onshore in Holland at 10:25 a.m. A storm chaser estimated that it produced wind gusts of up to 80 mph. Numerous reports of trees and power lines were received from in and near Holland and…
Three to five inches fell in just one to three hours across portions of central and eastern Ottawa county. This caused extensive flooding of the Grand Valley State University Allendale campus, where over a million dollars worth of damage due to flooding was reported. A coop obser…
Numerous reports of damage to homes and streets across the warned area occurred. Over 2000 homes sustained some type of damage during the flooding. In terms of roads impacted by water, there were four road closures, twenty five road washouts and forty roads were covered by water.…
Flooding across portions of Ottawa county was a result of the combination of heavy rain and melting of a significant snowpack across the area. There were up to 80 road closures and significant flooding of numerous intersections. At one time a section of US-31 was closed. Water up…
Slow-moving thunderstorms developed over Lake Michigan and moved east across Ottawa County throughout the day of Friday, June 20th. With the soil already saturated from 2 to 4 inches of rainfall from this training effect of thunderstorm activity during the day, a line of severe t…
Thunderstorm Wind Thunderstorm Wind
Large branches down at the intersection of Chicago and South Waverly in Holland.
Thunderstorm Wind Thunderstorm Wind
Trees and wires down with power outages.
Thunderstorm Wind Thunderstorm Wind
Trees and wires down on yard along West Mckinley Avenue.
Thunderstorm Wind Thunderstorm Wind
Multiple Trees Down in the county.
Thunderstorm Wind Thunderstorm Wind
Dispatch reports numerous trees and wires down across southern Ottawa County.
Hail Hail
Thunderstorm Wind Thunderstorm Wind
Over a dozen trees were knocked down or uprooted. Power outages across the county.
Hail Hail
Hail Hail
Hail Hail
Hail Hail
Hail Hail
Hail Hail
Hail Hail
Hail Hail
Hail Hail
Hail Hail
Hail Hail
Hail Hail
Hail Hail
Flood Flood
Water over the road near 40th and Baldwin.
Flood Flood
Water rescues from cars stranded in flood waters. Flooding at Riley Road at both 120th and 112th.
Winter Storm Winter Storm
Snow of 3 to 8 inches with some reports of over 10 inches of snow occurred near the lakeshore.
Winter Storm Winter Storm
Wind gusts over 60 mph with sustained winds of 20 to 35 mph. Around 3 to 6 inches of snow county wide. Numerous traffic accidents and power outages occurred county wide. Travel was near impossible at times.
Winter Storm Winter Storm
Trained spotters reported 8 to 15 inches of snow across Ottawa County from lake effect snow. Most of the snow fell in less than a 12 hour period.
Winter Storm Winter Storm
Between 8 and 12 inches of snow were reported countywide. Significant travel disruption occurred.
Tornado EF0 Tornado
A brief EF-0 tornado with top winds of 75 mph touched down in Zeeland Township and lifted off in Jamestown Township. Multiple farm buildings and trees were damaged along this brief tornado path.
Events by year, as a table
| Year | Events | Tornadoes |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 24 | 0 |
| 2025 | 11 | 1 |
| 2024 | 7 | 1 |
| 2023 | 3 | 0 |
| 2022 | 8 | 0 |
| 2021 | 10 | 1 |
| 2020 | 6 | 0 |
| 2019 | 9 | 0 |
| 2018 | 6 | 0 |
| 2017 | 4 | 0 |
| 2016 | 10 | 1 |
| 2015 | 5 | 0 |
| 2014 | 9 | 0 |
| 2013 | 11 | 0 |
| 2012 | 6 | 0 |
| 2011 | 17 | 0 |
| 2010 | 11 | 1 |
| 2009 | 11 | 0 |
| 2008 | 33 | 0 |
| 2007 | 26 | 0 |
| 2006 | 10 | 0 |
| 2005 | 12 | 0 |
| 2004 | 18 | 0 |
| 2003 | 12 | 0 |
| 2002 | 9 | 0 |
| 2001 | 24 | 2 |
| 2000 | 14 | 0 |
| 1999 | 24 | 0 |
| 1998 | 24 | 0 |
| 1997 | 33 | 0 |
| 1996 | 12 | 0 |
| 1995 | 1 | 0 |
| 1994 | 5 | 0 |
| 1993 | 4 | 0 |
| 1992 | 5 | 1 |
| 1991 | 14 | 1 |
| 1990 | 2 | 0 |
| 1989 | 1 | 0 |
| 1988 | 7 | 0 |
| 1987 | 3 | 1 |
| 1986 | 5 | 0 |
| 1985 | 5 | 0 |
| 1984 | 4 | 0 |
| 1983 | 6 | 0 |
| 1982 | 1 | 0 |
| 1981 | 1 | 0 |
| 1980 | 4 | 0 |
| 1979 | 5 | 3 |
| 1978 | 2 | 1 |
| 1977 | 1 | 0 |
| 1976 | 6 | 2 |
| 1975 | 3 | 1 |
| 1974 | 2 | 0 |
| 1973 | 1 | 0 |
| 1972 | 1 | 0 |
| 1971 | 2 | 0 |
| 1968 | 3 | 0 |
| 1967 | 1 | 0 |
| 1966 | 1 | 1 |
| 1965 | 5 | 2 |
| 1963 | 2 | 0 |
| 1962 | 1 | 0 |
| 1961 | 3 | 1 |
| 1957 | 1 | 1 |
| 1956 | 3 | 3 |
Search your address
See every tornado that passed within 25 miles of a place in Ottawa County, measured to its path.
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