3 children killed by falling tree during severe storm in Michigan

Joseph Wilkinson, New York Daily News on Mar 31, 2025

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Three children were killed and three more people were injured when a tree landed on their car Sunday in Michigan.

An 11-year-old girl, a 4-year-old boy and a 2-year-old girl were killed in the tragedy in Climax Township, the Kalamazoo County sheriff’s office said Monday. The 4-year-old and 2-year-old were brother and sister, and the 11-year-old was their cousin.

“Our condolences go out to this family,” Kalamazoo County Sheriff Richard Fuller said at a press conference.

Severe thunderstorms struck Michigan, Wisconsin, northern Indiana and northern Ohio over the weekend. More than 300,000 people remained without power into Monday across Michigan, including about 7,000 in Kalamazoo County.

The children were riding in the backseat of a minivan when the tree fell on their car, investigators said. The tree was large enough to extend across multiple lanes of traffic after it fell, cops said.

“There is no standing up to this tree. Given the volume of the tree, the weight of the tree and where it struck, there is no vehicle that would stand up to this,” Fuller said. “There’s really nothing anybody could’ve done.”

The children were not the only people killed Sunday by the storm system. About 100 miles southwest in Valparaiso, Ind., a tractor-trailer driver was killed when his truck was blown over in high winds. Jagbir Singh, 34, of Ontario, Canada, was identified as the victim.