Storm blasts Michigan campground

CLYDE TOWNSHIP, Mich. – Powerful winds overturned trailers and scattered furniture, bikes and debris across an eastern Michigan campground Sunday, killing one person and injuring four others, authorities said.

A “massive” storm moved through the Fort Trodd Family Campground in St. Clair County’s Clyde Township shortly after 7 p.m., Sheriff Tim Donnellon said.

Several camping trailers were blown onto their roofs and sides. Many others were damaged, including a 30-foot camper where Diana Gawronski and her husband, Ed, were when they saw the sky turning dark.

“The rain came, the wind came, and that was it,” said Gawronski, 67, of Warren. The couple “hit the floor, bounced around and then it was over.” Gawronski said her camper stayed upright but suffered significant damage.

One trailer landed in a large pond on the private campground, which features 80 to 100 campsites about 65 miles north of Detroit. A dive team continued to search the water as a precaution Sunday night even after authorities said all campground visitors had been accounted for.

The National Weather Service had issued multiple tornado and severe thunderstorm warnings across the southern part of the state Sunday and confirmed at least one tornado in southwest Wayne County, about 35 miles southwest of Detroit, that destroyed a couple of garages.

But officials said a tornado had not been confirmed in Clyde Township, where Fire Chief Gary May said no weather warnings had been issued. The weather service said it would survey the St. Clair County damage today.

“A storm came through, but we cannot confirm a tornado. Looks like it may have been strong, straight-line winds,” St. Clair County Emergency Management director Jeff Friedland said.

Donnellon said James Anderson, 75, of Mount Clemens, was killed at the campground, but declined to release details of the circumstances until an autopsy was performed. He said the four injured were taken to area hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries.