Tornado in Brimfield: 'Little spin up' causes minimal damage

A small tornado caused a little damage when it swept through Brimfield on Saturday.

Ryan Shackelford, director of the Portage County Emergency Management Agency, described the twister as "a little spin up." The National Weather Service ranked the tornado an EF-0 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale. The scale ranks tornados on a scale of zero to 5. The EF-0 tornadoes have winds ranging from 65 to 85 mph.

The NWS stated that the tornado touched down at 2:42 p.m. Saturday near an industrial building parking lot on Sunnybrook Road, north of Old Forge Road, and crossed Sunnybrook Road, where it moved into the Sunny Hill Golf Course. There, the NWS stated, the tornado crossed Sunnybrook Road and moved into a golf course, where it "produced tree damage and dislodged tiles on a footbridge before lifting near the bridge. The damage was consistent with a weak EF-0 tornado with estimated maximum winds of 65 mph."

The path length was .31 miles and its width was 10 yards.

Shackelford said a sign in a parking lot across the street from the golf course appeared to be offset, and a foot bridge in the golf course was damaged.

"Everything else was tree damage," he said. "We're lucky it was small."

Last month, a tornado that ripped through Windham Township was rated an EF-1, although Shackelford noted that the Windham twister was on the higher end of that scale, with some winds in the EF-2 range. EF-1 winds are 86 to 110 mph, while EF-2 winds are 111 to 135 mph.

Shackelford said rebuilding work is beginning in Windham, a process expected to take six months to a year. A few families are working with the American Red Cross for temporary housing. The application process has opened for the Portage County Disaster Relief Fund being set up by the EMA and the Portage Foundation. The fund will continue to collect donations through the end of May to help residents cover expenses not covered by insurance, Shackelford said.

Reporter Diane Smith, who was about a mile away from the Brimfield tornado when it touched down and noticed only a few storm clouds, can be reached at 330-298-1139 or dsmith@recordpub.com.

This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: Brimfield sees little damage from Saturday's tornado