Detroit Mayor Mary Sheffield said that the National Weather Service has confirmed a tornado hit Detroit's lower east side.
Sheffield said the tornado on the ground Sept. 3 was "not a surprise, as all of us have seen the significant damage thus far on the city's east side."
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Officials with the weather service said earlier Friday that a team had been dispatched to Detroit to investigate after city officials said they were surveying damage from the storm and a suspected tornado.
Sheffield also said the city has launched a "multi-departmental response" to keep residents safe and begin cleaning up.
A tornado last touched down in Detroit on Sept. 3, 1993, according to a database compiled by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Centers for Environmental Information. The agency said Wayne County has had 42 tornadoes that killed two and injured 188 since 1953. Tornadoes have also caused an estimated $126 million in property damage, it said.
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Tornado confirmed on Detroit east side by officials