DETROIT – On June 8, 1953 the last F5 tornado to hit Michigan struck the Flint suburb of Beecher.
It killed 116 people and another 844 were injured, making it the 10th deadliest tornado in U.S. history.
The twister touched down about two miles north of Flushing and from there created a path averaging about a1/2 mile wide as it moved across the Flint area to about two miles north of Lapeer.
A 23-mile-long path of death and destruction was left in its wake, with as many as 20 families reporting multiple deaths.
Damage was estimated at $19 million, in 1953 dollars.
It was tremendously good fortune that the Beecher tornado hit on a weekend, because home movie footage shows what happened to the Beecher High School.
The entire school was destroyed.