Wild weather blamed for deaths of 3 kids in Michigan and a man in an Amish buggy in Indiana

KALAMAZOO, Mich. (AP) — A tree fell on a van in Michigan, killing three children, during a fierce weekend storm that swept the region and contributed to the death of an 84-year-old man in an Amish buggy in Indiana, authorities said Monday.

Meanwhile, more potentially dangerous weather rolled across parts of the Southeastern U.S.

Trees and power lines were no match for freezing rain and extreme winds over the weekend, and utilities were gradually restoring power in Michigan, although 276,000 outages remained by Monday afternoon, according to poweroutage.us. Indiana and Wisconsin had trimmed their outages to roughly 80,000.

The victims of the fallen tree in Kalamazoo County were a 2-year-old girl, her 4-year-old brother and an 11-year-old girl who was their cousin. Three other people in the van were injured Sunday about 130 miles (209 kilometers) west of Detroit.

“The family could not have avoided this,” Sheriff Richard Fuller told reporters, adding that the tree struck the passenger area where the children were sitting.

“It was such a large tree that it came across two lanes of traffic and out the other side of the vehicle for about 12 more feet,” the sheriff said.

The area had been under a severe thunderstorm warning at the time, one of several Sunday in southern Michigan.

At roughly the same time, an Amish buggy in Middlebury, Indiana, flipped because of intense winds, killing Lonnie Yoder, police said.

Michigan’s northern Lower Peninsula remained a mess Monday, with thousands of trees down because of freezing rain that struck Saturday. Police urged people to stay off roads. The Alpena News said it couldn't publish a newspaper because it had no power, like the rest of Alpena County.

The Mackinac Bridge, a 5-mile (8-kilometer) span connecting Michigan's two peninsulas, was shut down because of the danger of thick ice falling on cars from the bridge's towers and cables.

In Valparaiso, Indiana, investigators believe severe crosswinds blew over a tractor-trailer Sunday afternoon, killing the driver at the property of Pratt Industries, the Porter County sheriff’s office said. Jagbir Singh, 34, of Ontario, Canada, was found outside the passenger compartment.

A warehouse in Elkhart, Indiana, was destroyed, though no injuries were reported, WSBT-TV said.

Winds in southwest Ohio toppled a church steeple, damaged homes and flipped campers Sunday night, authorities said. No injuries were reported. At least four tornadoes were confirmed by the National Weather Service.

Kentucky also saw at least three tornadoes Sunday, the weather service confirmed on the social platform X. One hit Spencer County in north-central Kentucky, tearing the roof off at least one barn.

Storm damage was reported in several counties in Tennessee, including Maury and Humphreys, WSMV-TV reported. Humphreys County Sheriff Chris Davis reported damage across the county, including a roof torn off a house. The homeowners were trapped inside but not injured. The National Weather Service confirmed on Facebook on Monday at least four tornadoes in middle Tennessee.

Clusters of thunderstorms accompanied by strong to severe wind gusts and perhaps a few tornadoes were spreading across much of the Southeast on Monday, the National Weather Service said. In Dothan, Alabama, five students suffered minor injuries when a storm caused part of their school's gymnasium roof to collapse, news outlets reported.

Flood watches have been issued for Wednesday through Sunday in 11 states, from northeast Texas through Arkansas and stretching to the western edge of West Virginia. The weather service warned that up to 1 foot (30.5 centimeters) of rain in some areas “is not out of the question. This is expected to be a high end event with life-threatening flooding.”