Storms ripped through the US on Wednesday amid reports of tornadoes, killing a toddler in Michigan, injuring several people outside Washington DC and threatening flooding in Baltimore.
A quickly developing tornado tore through the roof of a home in Livonia, Michigan, on Wednesday afternoon and toppled a large tree onto the bed where a mother and her 2-year-old son were sleeping, local authorities said in a statement.
The child was killed and his mother was in critical condition, the statement said, adding that the storm intensified suddenly as it entered the city, leaving authorities with no time to issue warnings.
One person was taken to the hospital with traumatic injuries and four more sustained non-life-threatening injuries after a tree fell on a home in Montgomery County, Maryland, overnight, Montgomery County Fire Rescue Lieutenant David Pazos said on social media.
Officials advised county residents to evacuate after the National Weather Service in Washington issued a tornado warning and called “particularly dangerous conditions.”
“We believe there were multiple tornadoes,” Montgomery County Fire and Rescue spokesman Pete Pillinger said. He told reporters the tornadoes appeared to have touched down in a residential area of Gaithersburg, Montgomery County, about 20 miles northwest of the nation's capital.
He added that at least three buildings were struck by trees.
Downed trees and power lines littered roads in Gaithersburg, and there were reports of damage in nearby Poolesville and Germantown, Piringer said.
Videos posted to social media showed a wall of gray snaking toward the ground in the distance in Poolesville as the National Weather Service issued multiple tornado warnings for areas including Harford County, Baltimore County and Baltimore City, most of which had been lifted by 10:15 p.m.