WorldDetroit's First Tornado Since 1997 Hits as Storms Threaten 50 MillionAired September 6, 2026 at 9:13 PM UTCWritten September 6, 2026 at 9:15 PM UTCRead the write-upThis storyTranscript · LOADING0:00Detroit's first tornado since 1997 hit the east side with 115 miles per hour0:05winds.0:06It happened as one of the busiest travel days of the year collided with a rare0:10multi-day severe outbreak.0:12More than 50 million people sat in the risk zone, and by Friday morning, more than0:16half a million customers were without power across a 470-mile stretch from Michigan0:20to Delaware.0:21So, as the holiday rush peaks, the real question is whether this weekend will be0:25remembered as a record or as near-record travel with a record gas price.0:29The tornado was confirmed on the city's east side Thursday evening, an EF2 with 1150:34miles per hour winds, a damage path three and a half miles long and half a mile0:39wide.0:39It left one person injured, no one killed.0:42Earlier that afternoon, an EF-0 touched down in Lincoln Park, and a separate tornado0:47was confirmed in St.0:47Clair County.0:48The mayor, Mary Sheffield, described significant damage, including a destroyed0:53building and a torn-off roof.0:54That tornado was part of a corridor stretching from the Great Lakes through the Ohio0:58Valley into the Mid-Atlantic.1:00More than 50 million people were in the Thursday severe weather risk zone, covering1:04Milwaukee, Chicago, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, and Washington.1:08Thursday evening, the National Weather Service in Pittsburgh issued tornado warnings1:12for parts of Westmoreland and Fayette counties, including Latrobe, Murraysville, and1:16Mount Pleasant, with gusts around Pittsburgh up to 75 miles per hour.1:20Flash flooding hit northern Ohio, where families were rescued by boat, and1:23Springfield, Ohio, where crews went door to door.1:26Buffalo set a daily rain record above 3 inches, stranding cars in flooded streets.1:30Texas was hit harder by water.1:32The remnants of Tropical Storm Edouard came ashore September 1st near Johnson Bayou,1:36Louisiana, then stalled over southeast Texas.1:39A gauge at Thicket in Hardin County recorded 24.36 inches, just over two feet.1:44Hardin County saw 18 to 20 inches over two days against a normal September total of1:48about 5.5 inches.1:50Flash flood emergencies stretched across Hardin, Tyler, and Polk counties, and1:54authorities rescued dozens of people.1:56By the time the remnants dissipated September 3rd, multi-day totals of 15 to 252:00inches had fallen.2:01And river flooding was forecast to linger for days.2:04The power toll was hardest to miss.2:06By Friday morning, more than 500,000 customers were without power across a 470-mile2:11swath from Michigan to Delaware, concentrated in Metro Detroit and around2:15Pittsburgh.2:15DTE Energy said more than 450,000 of its customers were affected across three storm2:21days, roughly 100,000 Wednesday, about 200,000 Thursday, and more on Friday.2:26The utility deployed a 4,000-person effort, including 1,900 mutual aid line workers,2:32and pledged to restore all remaining outages by Sunday.2:35By Sunday afternoon, 33,238 DTE customers were still in the dark, about 98%2:41of its 2.18 million customers restored.2:44The storm sequence started with Edward's landfall on September 1st, then the first2:49severe storms in Michigan the next day, the Detroit tornado on the 3rd, peak outages2:53on the fourth, and by Sunday, the utility was still working to restore the last2:57outages.2:58This storm hit precisely as travel peaked.3:00The TSA screened more than 17 million people from Thursday through the following3:04Wednesday, with roughly 2.8 million on Friday alone.3:08The FAA logged more than 280,000 flights over the same stretch.3:12Flight delays topped 7,000 nationwide, and one compilation for September 3rd and 4th3:16put the figure at 6,750 delays and 283 cancellations.3:21Thursday brought an average ground delay near two hours at JFK and roughly 453:26minutes at LaGuardia.3:27Friday brought FAA ground stops at Dulles, LaGuardia, Reagan National, Baltimore,3:32Washington and Pittsburgh with ground delays at Boston, LaGuardia and Reagan3:37National.3:38Dallas reported a 40% flight delay rate.3:40Chicago O'Hare handled 1.41 million holiday passengers, up about 6% from the year3:46before.3:47Now, about that record claim, the data points to near record, not record.3:51The TSA projected air travel just below 2025's record, with Friday's 2.8 million3:57screened compared with 2.971 million on the record Friday before Labor Day 2025.4:03The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey counted 6.6 million people using its4:07airports and crossings from September 3rd to 8th, with more than 2.4 million through4:11JFK, Newark, LaGuardia, and Stewart, just below the 2.5 million record set in 2025.4:17Road crossings reached up to 4.2 million vehicles.4:20What was plainly a record was the gas.4:22Holiday prices ran about $4.03 to $415 of $15 a gallon nationally against4:27$3.19 of the previous Labor Day.4:30A second hazard was building to the south and west.4:33A heat dome sat over the central and southern plains and the Mississippi Valley,4:37keeping nearly 45 million people under heat advisories or extreme heat warnings4:41through Labor Day, including St.4:42Louis.4:43Heat indices of 105 or higher were recorded in Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, and4:48Mississippi.4:49Kansas City was among the hardest hit, with highs in the mid-90s to around 100 in4:54heat indices near 106.4:56The National Weather Service flagged the possibility of 12 consecutive days at or5:00above 95 degrees, the longest such stretch since July 2012.5:04in a city whose normal early September highs are in the low eighties.5:07The storms largely cleared north and east in time for the holiday.5:10Metro Detroit and much of the Midwest saw their last serious round Friday, then5:14dried out, with Sunday and Labor Day mostly dry and sunny.5:17The broader pattern shifted south into the Carolinas by Saturday afternoon, leaving5:21a slight severe risk Sunday in parts of Georgia, the Carolinas, and Montana.5:26The plane's heat dome was not expected to break, with the Kansas City warning5:30running through Tuesday and river flooding in Texas lingering for days after the5:33rain stopped.5:34Authorities were still assessing casualties.5:37There have been reports of deaths amid the tornadoes and flash flooding, though no5:41verified toll has been established.5:43So was it a record weekend?5:44It produced historic local weather, Detroit's first tornado in nearly three decades,5:49and a Texas rainfall gauge above two feet.5:51But the travel peak it menaced was just short of a record.5:54The record belonged to the price of getting there.Explore with HeyDexFollow via RSSThe shortThe short ↗