UPDATE Friday, 5 p.m. | Ingham County Sheriff Scott Wriggelsworth held a news conference Friday afternoon, and he said that an EF-2 tornado touched down in Ingham County with winds up to 120 mph.
"The National Weather Service has been on site since this morning and recently confirmed that this was an EF-2 tornado," Wriggelsworth said.
He said that Ingham County 911 Center received numerous calls of vehicles overturned on Interstate 96, which included injuries and entrapments.
"At [9:34 p.m.], a tornado was reported on I-96 working its way eastbound along the highway from Williamston toward Webberville," Wriggelsworth said. "During this time we also received multiple calls of structual damage to homes, barns and outbuildings. Also reported were multiple trees being downed throughout Ingham County. Multiple power outages were also being reported."
UPDATE Friday, 12:30 p.m. | The National Weather Service in Detroit confirmed that a tornado causing EF1 damage with winds up to 90 mph entered Livingston County last night.
Officials from the National Weather Service in Grand Rapids are in Ingham County surveying the damage caused by the tornado, and they will release damage surveys soon.
A confirmed tornado, causing EF1 damage with winds up to 90 mph entered Livingston county last night near West Branch Red Cedar River. The tornado tracked east-northeast to I96. The storm survey is still ongoing and more details will be released later today.
— NWS Detroit (@NWSDetroit) August 25, 2023
UPDATE Friday, 9:20 a.m. | Interstate 96 remains closed in both directions from M-52 to Williamston Road after a tornado touched down near Williamston.
RELATED | Downed power lines, outages reported from severe thunderstorms in mid-Michigan
A person died after a tree fell on her home in Lansing on Martin Street near South Washington Avenue, and the Ingham County Sheriff's Office confirmed that one person died on I-96.
ORIGINAL STORY | Thursday night around 9:37 p.m., the National Weather Service issued a tornado warning for northeastern Ingham County until 10 p.m.
Ingham County Emergency Management said that the radar indicated a tornado on the ground near Interstate 96 south of Williamston.
According to the warning, a "confirmed large and extremely dangerous tornado was located near Willimaston, or near Fowlerville, moving east at 40 mph."
The tornado was predicted to be near Fowlerville at 9:45 p.m., Howell and Oak Grove around 9:55 p.m. and Brighton around 10:10 p.m.
Tornado Warning including Williamston MI and Webberville MI until 10:00 PM EDT pic.twitter.com/vOHhdZXusx
— NWS Grand Rapids (@NWSGrandRapids) August 25, 2023
Ingham County Emergency Management sent out a major traffic alert around 10:10 p.m. asking residents to avoid all of I-96 through Ingham County due to the storm.
"Emergency Services are working to clear the roadway for safe travel," the message said.
RELATED | GALLERY: Video coming in after storms rip through mid-Michigan
Capital Area Ingham County Alerts later told residents to avoid Noble Road in Williamston, north of I-96, at 10:33 p.m.
At 11:30 p.m. Thursday, another alert was sent out telling people to avoid the northeast corner of Ingham County due to "hazards."
This is a developing story and will be updated.
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