COLUMBUS – Officials say it may be late Sunday evening before power is completely restored to hundreds of Grove City residents who lost their electricity when an EF1 tornado touched down on Tuesday night.
Our crews are hard at work restoring power to Grove City after an EF1 tornado caused extensive damage. Restoration efforts will continue through the week with all customers expected to have power by late Sunday evening. For daily updates, please visit https://t.co/xAgvUCaZ1H. pic.twitter.com/FVxnP2yhr6
— AEP Ohio (@AEPOhio) April 4, 2018
At one point, approximately 8,000 American Electric Power customers were without electricity, according to the utility, but that number had shrunk to less than 700 by Thursday morning.
An overnight shelter, complete with showers and cots, were available at the Grove City YMCA, 3600 Discovery Drive, until Friday, April 7. The YMCA was also one of four locations where residents could charge cell phones, according to the city’s website.
The National Weather Service determine that an EF1 tornado, with 105 mph winds, touched down just south of Orders Road, at approximately 5:37 p.m. and moved northeast, across Hoover Road and I-71 before lifting just north of White Road and just south of Stringtown Road after traveling an estimated 2.6 miles (see diagram above).
The twister knocked down four large utility poles near Orders Road, snapping them at the base and causing them to fall across the roadway, the weather service reported.
Several townhomes and other structures on the west side of Hoover Road were damaged, including a newly built detached garage, which was destroyed.
An EF0 tornado, with winds clocked at 85 mph touched down 3 miles southwest of London, near Roberts Mill Road and state Route 38, south of Newport, and Old Xenia Road.
Another tornado touched down north of Xenia, damaging several barns and killing five sheep. One near Selma in Clark County destroyed a barn and damaged several other buildings.
Flood warnings remain in effect until Saturday for the Scioto River at Circleville and Piketon and the Big Darby Creek at Darbyville.
The weather has turned colder across Ohio and forecasters in Wilmington say in Thursday’s advisory that a weekend winter storm watch is in effect for southern Ohio — with snow possible.