130 years ago this week, an F5 tornado left not a single building standing in now-lost Michigan town, killing 47
A destructive tornado struck part of Southeast Michigan 130 years ago this week, moving through parts of Oakland, Lapeer and Livingston counties.
The tornado killed 47 people and left 100 injured, the Oakland County Emergency Management agency said, marking it as Michigan's second-deadliest tornado in recorded history.
Tornado forecasts were not issued to the public in those years, according to the National Weather Service, and modern record-keeping of such storms didn't start until the 1950s. But storms were certainly known to occur in the Midwest and the Great Lakes, and the most destructive ones made the headlines.
This one formed about 7 p.m. on May 25, 1896, and moved northeast for about 30 miles, the National Weather Service in Detroit said.
The storm that was then called a cyclone and is currently considered an F5-level tornado, given the extent of the damage, struck first in Roseland Township, the Oakland County Emergency Management agency reported. The twister then traveled across Brandon Township, moving into the communities of Oakwood, Ortonville, North Oxford, Whigville and Thomas.
"Formerly home to 160 people, not a building was left standing in Oakwood after the tornado," the emergency management agency said.
The Pontiac Gazette newspaper in Oakland County reported storm damage included apple and peach trees uprooted or twisted, churches destroyed, and cemetery tombstones blown down. The newspaper listed dozens of names of those who died, were injured, and, in one case, someone who was left presumably still alive but "cannot live."
"All Northern Oakland is in mourning," the newspaper said.
F5-level tornadoes are considered rare in Michigan, but do include one that struck the Flint-Beecher area in 1953 and one that struck the Hudsonville-Standale area of West Michigan in 1956. The Flint-Beecher tornado killed 116 people and injured 844 others.
Memorial Day, also known as Decoration Day, took place on May 30 that year.