US tornadoes: Emergency declared for 4 Michigan counties, 50 trapped inside damaged FedEx facility

A person lost his life in Tennessee as severe storms barreled through the central United States on Wednesday.

Three tornadoes were confirmed in Michigan in Kalamazoo, Cass and Branch counties all in the southwestern part of the state, reports said.

In Michigan's Portage, about 50 people temporarily were trapped inside a damaged FedEx facility because of downed power lines. 

As things stand, more than 20,000 people remain at their homes sans power supply. 

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, meanwhile, declared a state of emergency for four counties.

Tornadoes were first reported after dark Tuesday in parts of Michigan, Indiana and Ohio, while portions of Illinois, Kentucky and Missouri were also under a tornado watch, according to the National Weather Service. 

The storms came a day after a deadly twister ripped through an Oklahoma town.

In southern Indiana, the National Weather Service confirmed a tornado with a preliminary EF-0 rating and 85 mph (137 kph) winds touched down early Wednesday

Survey teams planned to head out Wednesday to determine whether tornadoes struck locations in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia, according to Jeff Craven, the meteorologist-in-charge in the weather service’s Pittsburgh office, a report said.

The tornado damaged some homes, uprooted trees and downed power lines. There were no immediate reports of injuries from the tornado, the news agency quoted the Division of Emergency Management as saying.

Tuesday's storms came a day after parts of the central United States were battered by heavy rain, strong winds, hail and twisters. 

Both the Plains and Midwest have been hammered by tornadoes this spring.

On Monday night, a deadly twister in Oklahoma tore through the 1,000-person town of Barnsdall. At least one person was killed and another was missing. Dozens of homes were destroyed.

It was the second tornado to hit Barnsdall in five weeks a twister on April 1 with maximum wind speeds of 90 to 100 mph (145 to 161 kph) damaged homes and blew down trees and power poles.

Areas in Oklahoma, including Sulphur and Holdenville, are still recovering from a tornado that killed four and left thousands without power late last month.