While crews continue to clean up from Saturday night’s storms that roared through southwest Michigan, the National Weather Service is confirming that tornadoes caused damage in both Cass and Berrien counties.

According to a statement released by the Weather Service Sunday afternoon, an EF1 tornado began a half-mile southwest of Southwestern Michigan College in Dowagiac and traveled three miles east-southeast ending near M-62.

In Berrien County, an EF1 tornado began near the intersection of Stevensville-Baroda Road and Marrs Road and traveled 3.5 miles to a point along Scottsdale Road just south of Rocky Weed Road.

The NWS also reported that an EF0 tornado began along Linco Road just southeast of the first tornado and continued approximately 1.5 miles east to S. Niles Road.

There were also widespread reports of straight line wind damage as well as heavy rains and some reports of hail throughout the area.

A tornado watch went up at 10 p.m. and the storm began its destructive path at approximately 11:30.

Power outages numbered in the thousands at the height of the storm, however, most had been restored by early Sunday morning, although there are still reports of areas without electricity in Cass County as late as Sunday afternoon.

Several roads in both Cass and Berrien counties were closed, including Hipps Hollow Road and Pucker Street, which was closed because of downed trees.

That road may not be opened until sometime Monday morning according to authorities.
All electric service to Midwest Energy Cooperative customers has been restored following overnight storms that downed trees and powerlines across northern Indiana and southwest lower Michigan.

Crews were initially deployed shortly after midnight Sunday after the storms ripped through the region.

Several thousand customers were without service in the immediate aftermath as numerous substations were down.

Once the substations were restored, about 2100 customers remained without service.

The majority of outages were in the Cassopolis, Vandalia, and Constantine areas.

“I appreciate the patience of our customers, and also the dedication and hard work of our crews. Many of our lineworkers left their own homes and families without power in the middle of the night to restore service to our customer family,” said Mike Roush, vice president of operations. Roush encourages any customers who remain without service to contact the cooperative at 1-800-492-5989.