WASHINGTON, March 7, (AP): Four people were killed Friday in southern Michigan as powerful storms that produced at least one tornado reduced homes to rubble, sent parts of roofs flying into the air and left a trail of debris hanging from power lines. In the Union Lake area, near Union City, three people were killed and 12 injured after an apparent tornado hit, according to the Branch County Sheriff’s Office.

About 50 miles (80.5 kilometers) southwest, Cass County officials reported one death and several injuries, after a tornado touched down. Lisa Piper stood on her back deck and videoed a terrifying scene that played out on the other side of frozen Union Lake as a funnel cloud formed and then dropped toward the ground. Trees were torn from their roots and debris flew into the air. "It’s lifting houses!” she said.

As the devastation continued, she exclaimed: "Oh my heart is pounding. Oh, I hope they’re OK.” Powerful storms formed Friday from Michigan all the way to Oklahoma, with reports of heavy rain and threats of severe thunderstorms. Tornado watches stretched from Iowa to Oklahoma, along with Michigan. At least one tornado has been confirmed in southern Michigan, near Union City, on Friday, according to the National Weather Service, and there were reports of possible others.

Part of the First Congregational United Church of Christ in Union City was damaged, although its nearly 150-year-old grand piano was spared, it said in a post on Facebook. The combination of a weather system that pulled moisture out of the Gulf of Mexico and a warm front that moved north created the right conditions for a tornado in a state where they're relatively rare, according to David Roth, a meteorologist at the weather service's Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland.

The system encountered much cooler air in the Great Lakes area. Michigan gets an average of 15 tornadoes a year, which is much less than the 155 for Texas and 96 for Kansas, he said. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer activated the state's Emergency Operations Center Friday "to coordinate an all-hands-on-deck response to severe weather,” she said in a statement. In St. Joseph County, Michigan, next to the Indiana border, the sheriff’s office told residents to "seek shelter immediately” following reports of an unconfirmed tornado, a severe thunderstorm watch and possible winds more than 60 mph (96 kph).

The sheriff's office said they should expect power outages, closed roads and disruptions to cell service and the internet. A tornado cut around a 4-mile (6.4-kilometer) path of damage in Okmulgee County, some 30 miles (48 kilometers) south of Tulsa, although more details wouldn’t be clear until daybreak, said Jeff Moore, the county’s emergency manager.