Eskymo Baseball Team Survives Gaylord Tornado

GAYLORD---The City of Gaylord was under a state of emergency Friday night after a tornado hit the city, killing at least one person and destroying many homes and businesses.

The Escanaba High School baseball team was caught in the middle of it all, but somehow, the tornado skipped over the Baymont Inn & Suites where the Eskymos were staying. That's less than one mile from the M-32 corrdor where numerous buildings were flattened by the storm.

The Eskymos arrived in Gaylord at 2:30 Friday afternoon, but their 4:00 game at Gaylord High School had already been cancelled as thunderstorms were approaching from the west. Nobody knew the power that the storm would bring to the area just blocks away from the team hotel.

"We were all sitting in the hotel room playing MLB The Show, when we all got a notification on our phone that a tornado was coming," Eskymo catcher Ben Johnson said. "We were all joking about it, oh, a tornado's coming. But a couple seconds later, we look out the window, and the tornado literally was here. And then it starts pouring down and stuff."

"It said to take shelter, but knowing us, we still went outside to investigate," Eskymo pitcher Nick Chiu said. "When we get out there, we all started recording, and we see a big funnel just start going dowm. It looked pretty bad, like two clouds coming together. It just dropped. And as it was going through the town, we could see a bunch of air clouds moving very fast, and it hit a electrical transformer and exlpoded it. Then we just all started running away."

"It was a big surprise to all of us," Eskymo pitcher Eli Gardner said. "It came out of no where, it felt like. We all tried to take videos of it and stuff, but once that electrical transformer blew up, we all sprinted back as fast as we could to the hotel. And once we got inside the hotel, all the lights were off, obvously. We just sat in the hallway for a while, for probably an hour, until we were notified that we were getting a new hotel up in Mackinaw City."

Nobody was injured among the Eskymo team and family members, although some were locked down briefly while shopping in the city. The entire team, and family members, relocated to Mackinaw City and that's where they were spending Friday night.

In Gaylord, at last word, one person was dead and 43 others were injured.

The CIty of Gaylord was under a "shelter in place" order with a city-wide curfew in effect until 8:00 Saturday morning. Most of the city had no electricity, and there was limited cell phone and Internet service. Very few businesses remained open, and the I-75 ramps into the city were blocked by police.

Sirens blared throughout the late afternoon as emergency crews responded to the numerous damaged buildings, and caring for the injured people. Late Friday night, Governor Gretchen Whitmer declared a State of Emergency.

“My heart goes out to the families and small businesses impacted by the tornado and severe weather in Gaylord,” said Governor Whitmer. “I have declared a state of emergency for Otsego County to rush resources to the affected areas, and the State Emergency Operations Center has been activated to coordinate our state's response. Our state is grateful for the first responders and utility workers who are working hard to keep everyone safe. Michiganders are tough. We are resilient. And there’s no challenge we can’t get through together.”

The Escanaba Eskymos baseball team will play in Cheboygan Saturday at 12:00.