New details on tornado confirmed in 2 Ohio counties
PLYMOUTH, Ohio (WJW) — The National Weather Service on Friday confirmed an EF-2 tornado touched down in parts of Crawford and Richland counties on Thursday.
No injuries were reported in either county, but Rebecca Owens, Richland County Emergency Management Agency director, said three homes along West Road sustained damage, one of which was rendered uninhabitable.
3 killed in overnight storms in Logan County
Outside that home, a vehicle had been flipped on its side. The storm also felled a livestock barn outside, but all the steers and goats inside were unharmed and accounted for, she said.
At a house down the road, farm chickens were found wandering the yard, she said.
The tornado began along Marsh Road just northeast of New Washington in Crawford County, damaging trees and homes as it pushed east across Auburn Township, according to the NWS.
Richland County’s tornado sirens were activated at about 7:45 p.m.
Its intensity grew as it moved east along Kenestrick Road, where it damaged several other homes and outbuildings, including a single-wide manufactured home and outbuilding.
It then continued east into Richland County, moving along West and Opdyke roads and crossing state routes 98, 61 and 191, before ending near Willet Road, east of Plymouth Township, between Opdyke and Richard roads.
Peak wind intensity was measured at 120 mph in Auburn and Plymouth townships, according to the NWS. Its maximum width was 250 yards, or 750 feet. Its path spanned more than 10 miles.
Video shows funnel cloud in Plymouth during tornado warning
“Debris we saw wrapped around utility poles and even as high up as where the wires connect to the poles. We knew it had some elevation to it,” Owens said, later adding, “We saw two-by-fours literally splintered off — two-by-fours that were stuck in the ground. … The debris is for quite a few miles from where the actual tornado touched down.”
The National Weather Service is expected to provide a more detailed report later Friday, Owens said.
Property damage can be reported to county agencies by dialing 211, Owens said. The three families whose homes were damaged were all insured, Owens said. Richland County Auditor Patrick Dropsey said residents can report property damage to his office, and possibly get a property tax adjustment.
Video sent in by FOX 8 viewer Mason Martin shows a half-mile wide funnel cloud. Watch that video here.
This was the first time Northeast Ohio has been hit by an EF-2 or greater tornado in March since 1986, according to FOX 8 Meteorologist Scott Sabol. That tornado occurred between 5 and 6 miles from Thursday night’s tornado, he said.
The NWS on Friday confirmed at least seven other tornadoes touched down in Ohio: an EF-3 tornado in Logan County, where at least three people were killed, an EF-2 tornado in Darke County, an EF-2 tornado in Union County, as well as four separate EF-1 tornadoes — one in Licking County, one in Hancock County, one in western Mercer County and one in Mercer and Auglaize counties.
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