EF-1 tornado touches down in county

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

Meteorologists from the National Weather Service confirmed that an EF-1 tornado was the culprit for storm damage reported in the northeast portion of the county on Sunday.

NWS meteorologists inspected the damage at the request of Van Wert County Emergency Management Director Rick McCoy, following his inspection of the storm damage.

The NWS determined that the tornado first touched down at the intersection of Ohio 637 and Feasby Wisener Road in Jackson Township and then went northeast for another three miles before lifting at the Wetzel Motorcycle Club property on the Van Wert-Paulding County line.

Although Sunday’s storm showed some similarities to the F-4 tornado that ripped through the county a little over 11 years ago (November 10, 2002), the damage locally was fairly moderate. A total of 81 tornado reports were logged by the NWS from Sunday’s storm in Illinois, Indiana, western Kentucky and Ohio.

Locally, storm spotters were activated Sunday afternoon as tornado-like storms moved into Wells County, Ind. At approximately 4:36 p.m., McCoy noted, the National Weather Service in North Webster, Ind., issued a tornado warning for Adams and Allen counties in Indiana and Paulding, Putnam and Van Wert counties in Ohio, and advised that radar was showing thunderstorms capable of producing a tornado moving into the area.

McCoy then activated the countywide tornado siren system, which lasted for 40 minutes as the storm progressed through the county. Spotters reported pea- to dime-sized hail as part of the storm system, along with wind gusts up to 62 mph.

The storm cell that entered Van Wert County came in around U.S. 224 and the Ohio-Indiana state line and continued moving northeast along the north edge of Van Wert.

“Luckily for us, it was not yet on the ground, even though our radar showed the rotation was there,” McCoy said of the tornado.

The tornado later came down around Ohio 637, damaging or destroying five barns on Doner Road, as well as a grain bin and other buildings and vehicles, and later touched down again in Cloverdale destroying a church and several homes in that village. Power outages were also reported, with McCoy noting that power may not be fully restored in the Cloverdale area for a week.

The EMA director said he hopes Sunday’s storm will mark the end of the severe weather season for the remainder of the year.