EF-2 tornado hits Clark County, damage extensive

“Clark County has done — as we would expect it — an excellent job,” DeWine said. “We are very grateful that no one was seriously hurt [and] no loss of life with the tornado.”

>> PHOTOS: Tornado hits Clark County

At least three minor injuries were reported. Also, Mercy Health – Springfield spokesperson Jennifer Robinson said the hospital saw two to three patients needing oxygen whose power had gone out.

Melanie Flax Wilt, Clark County commissioner, told the News-Sun that while her home experienced only minor damage, many of her neighbors just outside South Charleston were not so lucky.

“I don’t know if you could call it leveled, but you can see the frame [of one house], I mean there’s nothing on the frame; there was no roof,” Flax Wilt said. “And then there’s another neighbor who’s down on Plattsburg Road whose roof was completely torn off.”

More than 1,300 Clark Countians should have their power restored within the next couple of days, and Ohio Edison brought additional crews from other areas to help repair downed lines and poles.

As of Wednesday afternoon, NWS confirmed five tornadoes in Ohio, including the EF-2 tornado near Springfield in Clark County, which might include damage reported in Madison County, and a tornado in Riverside that continued into Greene County.

The Clark County tornado hit from around 4:50 a.m. to just after 5 a.m.

An EF-2 tornado is considered strong and capable of causing significant damage. It includes wind speeds of 111 to 135 mph, according to the NWS.

Final assessments will be released as they’re completed by the NWS.

DeWine said he and his wife, Fran, were woken in Bexley by their phones’ emergency alert systems, and he is grateful for the capability to warn people further ahead of time than 50 years ago when an F5 tornado struck Xenia on April 3, 1974.

He said Clark County and the state are looking to assist in the case of any unmet needs related to the storm and have not yet heard of any.

Flax Wilt said her family was all woken up by their phones, and she turned on the TV to see where the tornado was headed, seeing her neighborhood circled on the map. She said she sheltered with her family and felt the pressure change inside the house.

Flax Wilt said her home’s roof has some minor damage, and two barns are a bit damaged, too. She said she was more concerned for her cousins, the Agles, whose farm was heavily damaged.

Beaverdale Farms in South Vienna suffered extensive property damage, Bill Agle, one of the farm’s owners, said. Agle lives on the farm and said his daughter Lindsay, who lives close by, called him at about 4:45 a.m. warning him of the tornado. He went to her home and sheltered in the basement with her, preferring it over staying in the basement of a farmhouse built in 1857.

Agle said his family was watching the storm pass them by on radar on their phones, and could not hear any wind due to the basement’s protection.

“We didn’t realize that my house was being destroyed while we were up there,” Agle said. “I didn’t even know it until my son called and said, ‘Dad, your farm’s pretty much blown away.’”

Friends and neighbors immediately started showing up to the farm and reaching out, offering their support, Agle said. Community members could be seen clearing debris and salvaging equipment, as well as bringing food and other needed items with the home’s power being out Wednesday.

One friend, Rick Vest, said he came from his home in Cedarville because he knew the Agles would need help.

Agle said the roof of his house has severe damage, a window was blown out by the storm and there is some water damage on some doors inside.

The majority of structures on the property that were heavily damaged or destroyed were newer, while the older ones weathered the storm more solidly, Agle said.

“I’ll probably rebuild my grain bins because I’m ... in the process of being retired, but my son [and] our family will continue farming,” Agles said. “We’ll just bounce back and get things back to where they need to be.”

Jeff Boswell, a contractor for Guardian Exteriors and Restoration, said he went to the Ridge Road area at around 5:30 a.m. to help people impacted by the storm. He said he helped some people out of the garage by moving the damaged door, and now he and others are working to board up holes and repair other damage to roofs.

“It is pretty devastating out here; there’s houses blown off the foundations and back walls are completely blown out everywhere, [and] trees are down everywhere,” Boswell said.

Shoji Uota, the Ridge Road resident who later met with the governor, said he and his family were asleep in bed when the storm ripped off their roof.

Suddenly, he said, they heard the “sound of a big storm. Wind shows up, boom, and that’s what happens ... Not even 10 seconds.”

He said everyone seemed to be OK, so they found their shoes and tried to get out of the house into the rain.

“This is a natural disaster. This is God’s hand,” Uota said.