Buildings, homes damaged after suspected tornado hits Detroit's east side
The National Weather Service will have a team in Detroit on Friday morning to survey damage after a suspected tornado hit the city's east side Thursday afternoon.
If confirmed, it would mark the first tornado inside the city limits since July 2, 1997, when an F-2 tornado struck the city, injuring 90 residents.
The NWS is surveying from Hamtramck to Detroit to Belle Isle. A tornado warning was issued for Wayne County just before 4 p.m. Thursday.
Detroit Mayor Mary Sheffield was joined by other city officials on Thursday evening to discuss the damage and the city's cleanup and response efforts.
"As of now, we have not been able to fully confirm if a tornado actually touched ground in Detroit, but we can confirm that there has been significant damage to buildings and to homes," Sheffield said. "We want residents to know that we have a multi-departmental response; safety of our residents is first and foremost the most important."
Detroit Fire Department officials said they've received reports of numerous houses being damaged, but said most of the damage was confined to commercial buildings.
Sam Krassenstein, deputy director of Detroit's Department of Public Works, estimates that there are at least 30,000 Detroiters without power Thursday night.
"As part of the outages, people also notice a lot of signals being out. Right now, we estimate there's about 100 signals that are either completely dark or in flash mode. What that means is, if you come across a signal that's completely dark, you have to stop in all directions," Krassenstein said.
Luke Shaefer, Detroit's Chief Executive of Health, Human Services and Homeless Prevention, is encouraging residents to stay home for the night as crews assess damage.
"Tonight is a good night to stay indoors, stay in your home, keep your children at home," Shaefer said. "From a housing perspective, our number-one priority tonight will be emergency shelter. If you are in need of a place to stay, if you cannot stay in your home, the Detroit Street Outreach teams will be out tonight."
"If you have an elderly neighbor or an elderly family member that might be in need of electricity, this is a good time to call them or, if they're next door, check on them, just to make sure everyone's doing well."
To report downed trees or damaged buildings, please residents cans use the Improve Detroit App or call 313-590-3336.
Detroit officials are urging anyone in need of housing assistance due to Thursday's storms to contact the Detroit Housing Resource Helpline at 866-313-2520.