Cleanup continues after tornadoes touched down across Miami Valley

MIAMI VALLEY — Cleanup is now underway after two confirmed tornadoes touched down across the Miami Valley early Wednesday.

>>PHOTOS: Storm damage reported across the Miami Valley

Our news crews were in Clark County Thursday morning on News Center 7′s Daybreak.

Several large trees remain down along Fletcher Chapel Road.

Homes were damaged after an EF2 tornado touched down south of Shawnee High School on Selma Pike where several trees were snapped, the National Weather Service said.

The tornado then strengthened and broadened as it moved east-northeast eventually reaching EF2 intensity along Ridge Road near Highway 41 where three homes had complete roof loss.

News Center 7 previously reported that the National Weather Service said there were at least five tornadoes in Ohio on Wednesday.

NWS confirmed the following tornadoes across the state:

An EF2 tornado touched down in Springfield, Clark County, then turned into an EF1 tornado as it moved toward Madison County.
An EF1 Tornado touched down in Riverside, Montgomery County, and moved into Greene County
An EF2 tornado was confirmed in Blacklick, Franklin County
An EF1 tornado in Hillard, Franklin County
An EF2 tornado was confirmed in Licking County

There has been damage reported to homes in Clark, Greene, and Montgomery Counties.

“We’re all very grateful that no one was seriously hurt and no loss of life,” said Governor Mike DeWine, in a press briefing with local officials in Springfield Wednesday. “With a tornado, you obviously do not know. Tornadoes are very arbitrary.”

Our News Center 7 crews reported on the damage in Clark County.

A Springfield family is staying somewhere else because a tornado ripped the roof off their homes on Ridge Road.

“Hoping the insurance company will reach out to us, help us out and that’s all we can hope for,” Shoji Uotani told News Center 7′s Taylor Robertson.

A church that has been around since the 1800s was destroyed by an EF2 tornado Wednesday.

As reported on News Center 7 at 11, A wall is missing from the outside of Fletcher Chapel, but the damage gets worse as you step inside.

Almost two feet of insulation fell from the ceiling during Wednesday’s storms.

“There’s just so much here that has to be taken care of, cleaned up,” Pastor Larry Moore told our Kayla McDermott.

Now windows are boarded up, the walls have cracks, and animals have already moved their way inside.

He said the insurance company will be out here today and he hopes he can fix the damage quickly.

A tornado also caused damage to Wright Patterson Air Force Base Wednesday.

A Wright-Patterson Public Affairs spokesperson confirmed late Wednesday afternoon that the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force’s Restoration Hangar 4, Gate 22B (I-675), and “several other buildings on Area B” were damaged.

The National Weather Service confirmed that the tornado that damaged the base was an EF1.

The tornado first developed near homes located just south of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and continued to the base.

Young’s Jersey Dairy also reported damage from Wednesday’s storms.

Owner Ben Young spoke with News Center 7′s Nick Foley on Wednesday about the damage.

“My neighbor, Gail, called and said, ‘It looks like (a) tornado got into your barn’ and I thought I hope it didn’t blow the door off. Well, it blew the door off and took the entire barn,” Young said.

Young has been operating the Christmas Tree farm since the mid-80s and had just built the nearly thousand-foot barn several years back. Now, it’s scattered eight-by-eight beams and torn metal.

“The red barn at Young’s been there since 1869. We’re lucky cows were inside and no damage at Young’s Dairy. We lost the barn, no one got hurt, we have our homes, and we’ll be ready to sell Christmas trees in December,” he said.

A tornado also ripped through Riverside early Wednesday morning.

News Center 7 previously reported that one of the areas hit was the Airway Shopping Center.

A specialty tea shop had its windows blown out and next door, Big Lots had damage to its ceiling.

Workers said they were shocked when they drove up Wednesday morning.

Peggy Henthorn, property manager for the shopping center, said she had an army of contractors after hearing the shopping center might have been damaged by a tornado.

“There was nobody in the stores at the time, everybody is safe, most of it is storefront glass that got broken,” she told News Center 7′s Mike Campbell.

>>WATCH: Chopper video shows destruction left by tornado that traveled nearly 19 miles

News Center 7 will continue to provide coverage of the latest developments on these tornadoes. We will have updates on storm cleanup later today on News Center 7 at 5 p.m.

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