Haviland hit hard by microburst

Van Wert independent news

HAVILAND — While Van Wert County received brief heavy rains late Thursday afternoon, it was quite a different story just a few miles to the north.

An intense thunderstorm made quite a mess and caused significant damage in the village of Haviland. Fortunately, no injuries were reported.

Van Wert County EMA Director Rick McCoy assisted Paulding County EMA Director Ed Bohn in damage assessment efforts for the National Weather Service, and determined that a wet microburst developed briefly in the storm.

A microburst is defined as a violent short-lived localized downdraft that creates extreme wind shears at low altitudes.

“It passed over the village and put out winds estimated of at least 65 miles per hour,” McCoy said. “Damage was heavy to trees across the entire village and two buildings at Custom Assembly Inc. had portions of the roofs torn off and several walls were blown in.”

A semi was also flipped in the Custom Assembly parking lot, and Haviland Tile had a number of their storage piles of PVC drainage tile blown over during the storm.

Damage to residents in the village, was minimal, although small sheds, trees and tree limbs came down, along with isolated utility lines.