Clean up under way in Piqua after severe storms damage area

PIQUA — Residents in Piqua are spending their Memorial Day cleaning up after severe storms hit the Miami Valley Sunday morning.

One resident told News Center 7 that it’s going to take all week to get things back to normal at his house on Britton Drive.

Storm debris was stacked up near the curb, even though trash pickup was moved to Thursday due to the holiday.

Strong winds tossed a few sheds around, with some of them in pieces now.

While responding to storm damage, News Center 7 saw snapped trees, blown apart fences and shingles blown from roofs.

Donna Johnson gave News Center 7 a tour of the damage at her property.

“[The storm] moved all the furniture, broke the table, broke the grill,” she said. “By the sound of it, the way the wind came in like it had came down and just picked stuff up.”

Storm Center 7’s team of meteorologists said it looked like the damage was caused by a microburst, a really strong burst of straight line wind that comes down out of the base of a storm.

But Donna Johnson has her own theory about what caused all the damage.

“ I think it was a tornado,” she said. “A small one maybe.”

Her husband, Greg Johnson, also used the t-word.

“It was almost like a vacuum or something,” he said. “I don’t know how to explain it...We’ll let the insurance company figure it out.”