1 dead, homes damaged after destructive tornadoes and storms in three states and a Washington DC suburb

CNN
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Destructive storms and tornadoes hit parts of at least three states on Wednesday, including a suburb of Washington, D.C. At least one person died and others were injured.

In the afternoon, a tornado swept through the Detroit suburb of Livonia in the US state of Michigan and tore a tree onto a house. A two-year-old boy was killed and the child’s mother was seriously injured.

“This is a terrible tragedy for our community,” Livonia Mayor Maureen Miller Brosnan said in a press release. “We, too, are heartbroken and extend our deepest condolences.”

The storm that passed through Livonia left a 5.5-mile (8.8-kilometer) swath and was rated EF1 on the enhanced Fujita scale, with peak winds of 95 mph (153 km/h), according to a preliminary assessment by the National Weather Service in Detroit.

The storms increased in intensity as they moved through West Virginia and Maryland on Wednesday evening, leading to more than ten reports of tornadoes in the two states.

A tornado that passed through the Washington suburb of Gaithersburg, Maryland, trapped five people in a ranch-style home after it collapsed during the storm. One person was taken to the hospital with serious injuries, David Pazos, deputy chief of the Montgomery County Fire and Emergency Services Department, told CNN.

Two other houses in the densely populated suburb with around 70,000 residents were significantly damaged by trees, according to fire department spokesman Pete Piringer. Several people were rescued from damaged buildings and taken to hospitals, rescue workers said.

At least seven tornadoes were confirmed in the Baltimore area, with notable tornadoes in both Montgomery County and Baltimore County received an EF1 rating after reaching wind speeds of 105 mph, the National Weather Service said.

At around 8:55 p.m. ET, a tornado was also observed near Baltimore, in Arbutus, Maryland, the National Weather Service there reported. Further information on whether and what damage the tornado caused to buildings was not immediately available. The US Storm Prediction Center reported that numerous trees and power lines had fallen in the area.

There were no initial reports of injuries in the Sykesville, Maryland, area, but at least 10 buildings were damaged, mostly by the strong winds, according to fire department spokesman Bill Rehkopf. One building sustained significant damage from a tree.

Survey teams from the National Weather Service are visiting the hardest-hit areas to assess the damage and determine how many tornadoes there were and how strong they were.

Weak tornadoes are not uncommon in the Washington, D.C. area, but only a handful of them have been EF3 or stronger in recorded history. In 2002, an EF4 tornado devastated parts of La Plata, Maryland, south of Washington, D.C. That storm killed three people and caused over $100 million in damage, according to data from the National Weather Service.

Tornadoes also occurred in Alabama and Ohio, and storms across the country exceeded forecasts.

A possible tornado also caused damage in Frazeysburg, Ohio, about 50 miles east of Columbus. Photos show debris on the streets, toppled power poles and partially collapsed buildings.

According to CNN affiliate WBNS, nine people were injured, including at least four who were taken to a nearby hospital.