Sleeping 2-year-old killed as quick-forming tornado hurls tree on his bed
A sleeping two-year-old boy was killed when a tornado that formed suddenly tossed a tree on a bed he and his mother were sharing.
The ‘quick-developing’ tornado struck neighborhoods in Livonia, Michigan, around 3.30pm on Wednesday, according to the city.
‘A massive tree was uprooted, falling onto a house and through the roof, landing on a bed where a mother and her 2-year-old child were sleeping,’ stated the city.
‘Every available Livonia Firefighter was dispatched to the scene.’
For almost an hour, members of Western Wayne County Urban Search and Rescue worked to extricate the boy and his mom by lifting the roof of the home and tree parts, then the trunk itself using high-pressure air bags.
The injured boy was pronounced dead at the scene.
His mother was rushed in critical condition to Livonia Trinity Hospital.
‘This is a terrible tragedy for our community,’ stated Mayor Maureen Miller Brosnan.
‘Our hearts are broken, too, and we send our deepest sympathies.’
The mother was conscious throughout the extrication and paramedics treated her while pinned down by the tree.
‘Once we were able to move the tree, which was a massive four-trunk hardwood tree that uprooted right next to the bedroom, so the entire mass of the tree came down through the bedroom that they were staying in,’ Livonia Fire Department Chief Robert Johnson told ClickOnDetroit.com.
A two-week-old and the grandmother were in a different room and were not hurt, but taken to St Mary’s hospital to be evaluated.
The National Weather Service (NWS) determined that storms sweeping the area became ‘severe’ entering Livonia near Schoolcraft and Interstate 96 and created an EF0 to EF1 with a destructive path for five miles north.
NWS labeled it a spin-up storm that did not pop up on their radar with enough time to send out a warning, according to the city.
‘We appreciate all the efforts of Livonia Firefighters and Livonia Police in trying to bring about a better outcome,’ stated Brosnan.
‘Our first responders are the best around. We also thank all the caring neighbors who worked hard to clear trees and assist our firefighters and officers on the scene.’
Livonia is a western suburb of Detroit.
The boy died just a couple months after a two-year-old girl was killed by a tornado in Silver City, Mississippi, while staying at her grandparents’ mobile home while her mother gave birth to a second child at a hospital.
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