The worst tornado to hit Michigan in 1953, which leveled Flint, killed 116 people and injured 844, still ranks among the most destructive tornadoes on record in the nation. The devastation was likened to the aftermath of the atomic bomb detonation in Nagasaki, Japan. The tornado that hit Flint was rated as an EF5, the most intense. The birth certificate of an 8-year-old girl who was killed in the tornado was blown 60 miles away to Lake Shore by the powerful force of the storm's winds. Despite improvements in weather prediction and early warning systems, it is still difficult to predict exactly where a tornado will strike.