COLUMBUS, Ohio – Investigators will be in Pickaway County later today to determine if it was a tornado that damaged buildings in Ashville after storms tore through central Ohio Sunday, leaving thousands of people without power.
Pickaway County sheriff’s deputies say several residents reported a funnel cloud on the ground yesterday, ripping roofs and siding from homes along Winchester Pike and Walnut Creek Pike. No injuries were reported.
The Ohio Emergency Management Agency estimated 100,000 AEP customers – including about 9,000 in central Ohio – were without electricity at the height of the storm. Power had been restored to all but about 1,000 of them by early Monday morning, though six broken distribution poles along U.S. 40 in the Hebron area forced the Lakewood Local School District to cancel classes for the day. The utility says work to replace the poles is projected to be complete by 10:00 p.m.
The rest of the Newark area is expected to have its power restored by 2:00 p.m. Power should be restored in Columbus by 4:00 p.m., in Lancaster by 3:30 p.m. and in Delaware by 2:00 p.m., according to AEP’s website.
Electric companies were working to restore power to more than 71,000 customers Monday after heavy winds from an unusually large and strong late-season storm system rolled through the state.
Nearly 19,500 AEP Ohio customers were still without power early Monday. First Energy reported more than 42,000 outages and Duke Energy reported about 9,800 outages.
Several tornado warnings were issued in central Ohio yesterday as a line of powerful storms hammered the region with high winds and heavy rain.
A statewide tornado watch was cancelled after the serious storms moved out of Ohio by 10:00 p.m., according to the National Weather Service.
There were no confirmed reports of tornadoes in Ohio Sunday night but winds gusted to as high as 70 mph.
The National Weather Service says up to 40 tornadoes could have struck the midwestern part of the U.S. on Sunday. Storms killed at least six people, injured dozens more and brought damaging winds to at least 12 states, including Illinois, Missouri, Indiana and Ohio.
Illinois, where the six deaths occurred, was struck the hardest.