Northwest Ohio residents, first responders size up damage from reported tornadoes Thursday night
Storms that ripped through northwest Ohio Thursday night produced several reported tornadoes and large hail.
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TOLEDO, Ohio — After Thursday-evening storms produced several reported tornadoes in Point Place and elsewhere, residents and first responders ventured out to survey the damage caused by the wind and hail.
Point Place appeared to be particularly hard hit. Many residents reported roof damage, downed trees, downed power lines and other storm damage late Thursday.
The storms struck the north Toledo neighborhood around 6:15 p.m., delivering some of the heaviest damage near Ottawa River Road and Suder Avenue.
ProMedica Laboratories on Suder Avenue appeared to suffer heavy damage.
Phlebotomist Kendrick Mosely said had just finished up his work day and headed home just before the storm arrived. He heard on his way home that the building had been destroyed.
"It’s heartbreaking. All these people are dependent about this lab," Mosely said. "I’m sad I won’t be here to service my patients. This is devastating."
First responders closed several Point Place streets in the hardest hit area near the Suder Avenue, Ottawa River Road intersection. That made it impossible for some people, including Devin Price, to get home after the storm and check on their families.
"My family is stuck over there," he said.
When the weather cleared, 93-year-old Point Place resident Jerrie Kucharski was among those who ventured out to see what had happened, even though her daughter urged her not to. Initially she thought it had been nothing more than a wind storm.
“I looked and all these balls…" Kucharski said of the unusually large hail left on the ground after the storm. She said she grabbed a couple and put them in her freezer as souvenirs.
Lisa Stewart, a mom of five, was on her way to visit her parents when she got caught in the storm that seemed to come up out of nowhere.
“I just tanned when I turned on Suder and the weather started getting bad," she said. "And I didn’t know what was going on because I wasn’t listening to a local channel. Things were swirling around me. And by the time I made it here the stuff was flying, the bricks were flying toward the truck. And I was trying to get through the intersection and live wires were flying at my truck."
Like Stewart, Point Place resident Harry Hager said the storm seemed to spring up with almost no warning.
"We were doing yard work in the yard and looked up and I could see the clouds in a circle," Hager said. "I've seen it before in Colorado and I was like, 'that's a tornado.' By the time I said that, that quick in 45 secs to one minute all we could is pull the door closed."
As the storm blew through Oregon, it damaged the roof of Michelle Young had only just had repaired from previous damage.
Young said she had just spent $3,000 on repairs to the roof, only to have it torn up again Thursday.
Young said she used to live in Florida and encountered hurricanes and other strong storms there. Now that she's back in Ohio, she's once again dealing with serious storms, she said.
"It's overwhelming we put so much into this house," she said. "I've been putting money into it. And every year we pick a new project this year was the garage roof. We had plans of house roof, we'll probably get to that now sooner rather than later."
Source: WTOL
