01-04-2025
Fierce Storms Across Midwest Blamed for Deaths of 3 Kids and an Amish Great-Grandfather Riding in a Buggy
Michigan authorities say a weekend accident in which three children died when a downed tree struck a minivan was unavoidable.
The children, ages 2, 4 and 11, were killed when the vehicle in which they were riding in was hit by a 'very large tree' as a fierce storm moved across the area about 130 miles west of Detroit on Sunday, March 30, Kalamazoo County Sheriff Richard Fuller said, according to ABC affiliate WZZM13.
'It looks like nothing anybody could have done,' Fuller told reporters on Monday, March 31. 'The family could have not avoided this, they didn't predict that something would happen in that area at that time and ultimately this came very suddenly.'
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Fuller said the tree hit the van behind the driver's door and across the passenger area, where the children — a 2-year-old girl, her 4-year-old brother and their 11-year-old female cousin — were seated. Three other people in the van were injured, the Associated Press reported.
The Branch County family was on their way to visit a relative when the accident occurred, according to the report.
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Fuller added that the tree was so large 'that it came across two lanes of traffic and out the other side of the vehicle, about 12 more feet.'
Two deaths in Indiana are also being blamed on the storm, which tore across the Midwest.
Lonnie Yoder, 84, was killed when his Amish buggy flipped due to intense winds in Middlebury, Ind. shortly before 6 p.m. local time on Sunday.
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Yoder — a father of seven, grandfather of 24 and great-grandfather of 14 — leaves behind his wife of 62 years, according to his obituary.
The high winds also claimed the life of a 34-year-old man in Valparaiso, who was killed when he was hit by a tractor-trailer that had flipped onto its side, according to NBC affiliate WNDU-TV.
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