Update: Friday, May 10, 6:50 p.m.
An early report of people trapped in a FedEx building in Portage in the wake of Tuesday's storms was incorrect, the company told Michigan Public on Friday.
Kalamazoo County officials initially said up to 50 people were trapped in a partially collapsed FedEx shipping Center in Portage.
Michigan Public was among the news outlets that reported that wrong information.
Reached Friday, a FedEx spokesperson said employees were not trapped in the building — though there were workers in it when the storm passed over. Those people were able to shelter in place, and no one was seriously injured, the spokesperson said.
Original story: Tuesday, May 7, 8:46 p.m.
DETROIT (AP) — Two tornadoes blitzed the city of Portage, just south of Kalamazoo, Tuesday evening — part of a series of storms that battered several states in the Midwest this week.
Portage officials said in a news release that no serious injuries had been reported despite the twisters knocking down trees and severely damaging homes and commercial buildings, including a FedEx facility.
An estimated 50 people were trapped inside the facility at one point because of downed power lines, authorities said. But FedEx spokesperson Shannon Davis said late Tuesday that “all team members are safe and accounted for.”
Meanwhile, entire homes were destroyed in a nearby mobile home park.
Kalamazoo County Sheriff Richard Fuller described the damage there. "Homes in the roadway. We found homes in neighbors' homes. We found large trees in homes. We found many vehicles that have been smashed by large trees or homes."
A tornado watch was also issued Tuesday afternoon for portions of northeast Indiana and northwest Ohio with the possibility of tornadoes, large hail and wind gusts of up to 70 mph (112.65 kph).
Tuesday's storms were not expected to pose as intense a threat as those Monday had, said Roger Edwards, lead forecaster with the National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center.
The Storm Prediction Center cited 17 reports of tornadoes from Monday evening through early Tuesday in the central part of the United States. Eight of the twisters were in Oklahoma, two each in Kansas, South Dakota and Iowa, and one each in Nebraska, Missouri and Tennessee. The powerful storms come amid a wild swing in severe weather across the globe that includes some of the worst-ever flooding in Brazil and a brutal Asian heat wave.
A deadly tornado that touched down Monday night in Oklahoma ripped through the 1,000-person town of Barnsdall, about a 40-minute drive north of Tulsa. The National Weather Service there had warned Monday evening that “a large and life-threatening tornado” was headed toward Barnsdall.
One person died in the town and one man is missing, Barnsdall Mayor Johnny Kelley said. Authorities launched a secondary search Tuesday morning for the missing man.
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St. John reported from Detroit and Salter from O’Fallon, Missouri. Associated Press writers Rio Yamat in Las Vegas; Heather Hollingsworth in Mission, Kansas; Colleen Slevin in Denver; Kathy McCormack in Concord, New Hampshire; Sarah Brumfield in Silver Spring, Maryland; and Ed White in Detroit contributed to this report.
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Alexa St. John is an Associated Press climate solutions reporter. Follow her on X: @alexa_stjohn. Reach her at ast.john@ap.org.
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The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
