Detroit tornado resulted in 1 injury; power outages to linger through weekend

Detroit Mayor Mary Sheffield said one man was injured during Thursday's severe weather while attempting to protect his newborn child.

That was among the reports given during a press conference held at 1 p.m. Friday to provide an update on the city's response to Thursday's severe weather. During the remarks, Sheffield also said that the National Weather Service had just confirmed that a tornado had struck Detroit.

This is the first tornado to hit the city since 1997. The winds resulted in significant damage to trees, utility poles and power lines.

Sheffield was accompanied by representatives from the Building, Safety, Engineering, and Environmental Department, Department of Public Works, Detroit Fire and other departments at the press conference.  

Sheffield said the injured person was a "young father" who protected his newborn baby as a large tree fell on their home on the east side of Detroit. The man had a dislocated shoulder as a result of the incident, and the city's services team is working with the family. 

Other details that were provided include the fire department responding to 65 storm-related incidents as nearly 30,000 in the city had no power and 100 intersections lacked working traffic signals.

Hilton Kincaid, director of Homeland Security & Emergency Management for the city, said that emergency sirens and cell phone alerts were sent to area residents for the tornado warning and reminded people to seek safety when such warnings are issued.

"When those sirens and phones go off, it means get down, not 'get down,' but get down low and get to a safe area of your house," Kincaid said.

DTE, which provided a report Friday morning on restoration efforts, also gave an update. The company has already said that some of those who lost power during severe weather this week might not be restored to power until Saturday or Sunday. The number of outages across its Southeast Michigan service area had reached nearly 300,000 at one point, and around noon Friday, the company reported 267,000 active outages.

Brian Calka, senior vice president at DTE, said given the severity of the storm, "believe it or not, it could have been a lot worse."