A large tree toppled over into the playground of Andrews Elementary School in Three Rivers during Sunday’s severe thunderstorm, knocking out a swingset and part of the playground’s fence.
Window panes and other debris from Boland Tire in Three Rivers are strewn about in the aftermath of a severe thunderstorm that blew through Three Rivers and St. Joseph County Sunday night.
By Robert Tomlinson
News Director
ST. JOSEPH COUNTY — A powerful thunderstorm rolled through St. Joseph County Sunday evening, causing numerous power outages, downed trees, and property damage in spots around the county.
According to the National Weather Service, there was “widespread” wind damage throughout the southern Michigan/northern Indiana area, with wind gusts of 60-80 miles per hour recorded. Damage assessments will be performed Monday to examine the extent of the damage, and will determine if any tornadoes occurred. The Kirsch Airport in Sturgis reported a wind gust of 64 miles per hour at 6:22 p.m. Sunday night, according to NWS.
Thousands of residences in St. Joseph County and Cass County were without power due to the storm, with the vast majority of customers restored by Wednesday morning before another round of storms hit. Just under 6,000 customers in St. Joseph County between Indiana Michigan Power, Consumer’s Energy, Midwest Energy and Communications, and Sturgis Electric were out of power at its peak. In Cass County, over 5,000 people on MEC’s grid were out of power because of the storm.
On Tuesday, the NWS said in a statement that the damage was “inconclusive” as to whether a tornado touched down, thus ruling it preliminarily as straightline wind damage and not tornadic in St. Joseph County.
In Three Rivers, the bulk of the damage was mainly concentrated in the first and third districts, in the West Michigan Avenue corridor and the Main Street/Hoffman Road area. The most recognizable damage were numerous panes of glass that were ripped from windows at Boland Tire on West Michigan Avenue, with debris strewn about from the glass. Workers were observed boarding up the windows late into Sunday night.
In that same area, there were reports of a semi trailer that was blown over in the parking lot between Boland Tire and Biggby Coffee. Some roof damage to Biggby was also reported.
In the Third District of the city, there were two trees that fell in the area of Andrews Elementary School, with one blocking one lane of South Douglas Avenue, and another larger one toppling over and causing damage to the school’s playground fence and swingset.
In the first district, there were multiple trees down in the Hoffman Road, Portage Road and North Main Street areas, with firefighters directing traffic at one point at the intersection of Hoffman and North Main to direct drivers away from some of the hardest-hit areas.
Some homes in the area were hit by trees, causing various levels of damage. One of those hit was the home of Zach and Aleeyah Fultz on Maple Street, where the large tree behind their house slammed into the kitchen area of their home. Aleeyah Fultz said she was taking a nap right before the storm came through, and when she got up to go to the bathroom, she noticed the wind gusts and power flickering and knew something was up.
“I thought maybe it was just the storm, but then I started hearing a lot of commotion, so I grabbed my kids, we went into our bathtub because we don’t have a basement, and then I remember hearing this boom, and that must’ve been the tree landing in our kitchen,” Aleeyah said.
She added that Zach had to go back in after her and the kids went to their neighbor’s house to grab their dog, who was “terrified” at the time, and while its crate was in the affected kitchen area, she said “thankfully” the dog wasn’t in its crate at the time the tree came down. In all, she said she was glad her family was okay.
“I’m happy we’re okay,” Aleeyah said. “[Houses] are replaceable.”
Elsewhere in St. Joseph County, NWS reported various trees and branches down at numerous spots around Sturgis, which were still being cleaned up Monday, a tree down on a powerline near Burr Oak, and multiple limbs down around the areas of U.S. 131 and M-216. There was also storm damage reported north of Three Rivers in various spots as well.
An EF-1 tornado was confirmed in Edwardsburg in Cass County, beginning on Conrad Road and was on the ground for three minutes, causing damage to Edwardsburg Primary School and other businesses, vehicles and trees. Straightline damage was also noted in Edwardsburg, which the NWS said was indicative that “the tornado was likely embedded within the line of storms that moved through.”
St. Joseph County Sheriff Chad Spence confirmed that damage assessments are being conducted Monday, with more information to be released late Monday. As of Sunday night, Spence said there haven’t been any injuries reported in the county because of the storm.
Robert Tomlinson can be reached at 279-7488 or robert@wilcoxnewspapers.com.
