WATCH: Michigan Man Captures Exact Moment a Violent Tornado Forms Over Shopping Plaza
A Michigan resident captured haunting footage of a tornado forming in Three Rivers. The tornado reportedly arrived during severe storms on March 6, 2026, according to PEOPLE. Kainan Hicks shared the video on social media. He was at work in Three Rivers when tornado sirens started going off. Hicks stepped out and went “next door to the other work” to see what was going on. After he returned to the original spot, he realized the storm had started to change. “And when I came back, I started seeing the tornado actually form way off in the distance,” he explained. “That’s when everything kind of swept through.”
The video shows how black clouds were swirling together to create something sinister. It stretched throughout the length of the shopping plaza in frame. The camera moved closer, focusing on the debris being thrown all over by the storm. The video further revealed the tornado's inner workings and how it was heading towards the surrounding businesses. At one point, the cylindrical base of the funnel cloud that generated the storm was also clearly visible. The phenomenon had enveloped the sky, and as time passed, it escalated. The storm apparently hit several commercial structures. The true extent of its damage remains under wraps.
Hicks possibly took shelter in a store to save himself from the storm’s wrath. As the video nears its end, the size of the flying debris also gets progressively larger. It indicates that the storm’s intensity was steadily increasing. Authorities later designated the tornado in the video as an EF-2. Storms of this category have winds moving between 111 and 135 miles per hour. These storms can cause huge damage in the affected area.
The EF-2 storm worked as per expectations, according to WNDU. However, it lasted for a few minutes; its cleanup will take many weeks or even months. Besides that, livelihoods have been severely damaged. Brady Zent lost all the belongings she had kept in a storage unit. “It’s like everything you worked so hard for… gone,” Zent said. “Our life is in here. We literally put everything in here last year, and we’ve lost a lot,” she added. Many similar stories can be found all across the region.
Experts claim that the phenomenon in the video was the severe weather outbreak that hit Michigan on March 6. The outbreak was so severe that it hampered communities inhabiting the southwestern part of the state. The particular region apparently experienced multiple tornadoes that day. To deal with this outbreak, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer put into effect the state’s emergency operations center. The objective behind this decision was to ensure that all rescue efforts were coordinated. Several search and rescue operations were conducted by authorities to salvage lives and businesses affected by the outbreak.
Another tornado happened in the nearby town of Union City, possibly again due to the weather outbreak, according to Storyful. This tornado apparently took the lives of twelve people. The state is slowly but steadily trying to come out of this disaster. The whole phenomenon is a stark reminder of how quickly nature can change dynamics.