CELINA – Strong Memorial Day tornadoes that spun through Ohio and Indiana smashed homes and businesses and sent thousands of people cowering in basements and closets, but just a single death was reported in the aftermath of the destructive storms and some officials are crediting timely alerts and media reports with saving lives.
Governor Mike DeWine declared a state of emergency in the three counties with the most damage and President Donald Trump tweeted that his administration stood ready to help.
We just flew over #Trotwood and are with community leaders and residents right now. What we are seeing is heartbreaking, but Ohioans are tough, and Trotwood will recover. pic.twitter.com/BNMi5UxpMb
— Governor Mike DeWine (@GovMikeDeWine) May 28, 2019
The winds peeled away roofs — leaving homes looking like giant dollhouses — knocked houses off their foundations, toppled trees, brought down power lines and churned up so much debris that it could be seen on radar. Highway crews had to use snowplows to clear Interstate 75 near Dayton. One person was also injured in Indiana.
In Celina, 82-year-old Melvin Dale Hanna was killed when a parked car was blown into his house, authorities said.
“There’s areas that truly look like a war zone,” said Jeffrey Hazel, mayor of the town of 10,000 about 60 miles northwest of Dayton.
Hospitals reported that as many as 130 people were injured but officials said more fatalities were prevented by people doing what they were supposed to do when the tornadoes were heading their way. Celina Fire Chief Douglas Wolters cited alerts people received on their phones and extensive coverage by TV meteorologists ahead of the storm, giving residents a 10-minute warning.
“Everybody I talked to said they heeded the warning and went straight to the basement,” Wolters said Tuesday evening.
As of Wednesday morning, the National Weather Service confirmed at least 17 tornadoes touched down in Ohio, ranging from a trio of EF3 twisters with winds of approximately 140 mph in Montgomery County and Celina, EF2 tornadoes near Laurelville and south of Vandalia, an EF1 south of Tarlton in Pickaway County and EF0 twisters near Phillipburg and Circleville.
UPDATE 5/30/19 4:29 a.m.: The National Weather Service has confirmed that 17 tornadoes touched down in Ohio during the May 27-28 outbreak.
The storms were among 53 twisters that forecasters said may have touched down Monday across eight states stretching eastward from Idaho and Colorado. The past couple of weeks have seen unusually high tornado activity in the U.S after several quiet years.
Tornadoes have erupted in the United States as a volatile mix of warm, moist air from the Southeast and persistent cold from the Rockies clashed and stalled over the Midwest.
Storms in Kansas City and the New York area Tuesday marked the 12th straight day that at least eight tornadoes were reported to the weather service, said Patrick Marsh, warning coordination meteorologist for the federal Storm Prediction Center.
The previous 11-day stretch of at least eight tornadoes per day ended on June 7, 1980.
“We’re getting big counts on a lot of these days and that is certainly unusual,” Marsh said.
The weather service has received 934 tornado reports so far this year, up from the yearly average of 743 observed tornadoes. More than 500 of those reports came in the last 30 days. The actual number is likely lower, however, because some of the reports probably come from different witnesses who spot the same twister.
The recent surge in tornado activity over the past two weeks was driven by high pressure over the Southeast and an unusually cold trough over the Rockies that forced warm, moist air into the central U.S., sparking repeated severe thunderstorms and periodic tornadoes.