NWS confirms 4 tornadoes in Van Wert County, Ohio

National Weather Service surveys tornado damage in Ohio, Indiana The NWS surveys tornado damage in Ohio, Indiana prior to severe storms sweeping through the area.

UPDATE @ 10:30 p.m. (Aug. 25)

Teams from the National Weather Service in North Webster, Indiana, confirmed four tornadoes touched down Wednesday in Van Wert County in Ohio as strong storms moved through the area.

The weather service’s North Webster office covers Williams, Fulton, Defiance, Henry, Paulding, Putnam, Van Wert and Allen counties in Ohio as well as much of northeast and north-central Indiana.

Rick McCoy, Van Wert County emergency management director, reported on Facebook that his agency received multiple reports of tornado touchdowns and damage to property, trees, and power lines, the Toledo Blade reported.

The NWS released a preliminary storm survey of the four Van Wert County tornadoes:

• EF-1, 6:30 p.m. 8 miles southwest of Van Wert, with estimated wind speed of 100 mph. The tornado was 75 yards wide and traveled 5.5 miles. It touched down in a cornfield just west of a home on Convoy Heller Road, where several trees were uprooted and snapped off while some roof and siding damage occurred to the home. A large two-story barn had mud thrown onto the east side. A window was broken inward and a vent was blown outward. The tornado continued skipping northeast, hitting a large barn on U.S. 224. The roof was blown off. The tornado knocked down trees, including a large pine in a cemetery, where several small grave stones also were moved.
• EF-0, 6:41 p.m., 4.8 miles west of northwest Van Wert, with estimated wind speed of 75 mph. The tornado was 25 yards wide and traveled 1.5 miles. This was a secondary spin-up tornado from the EF-1 tornado. Damage was mainly to corn and soybean crops.
• EF-0, 6;51 p.m., 3.9 miles north of Van Wert, with estimated wind speed of 65 mph. The tornado was 40 yards wide and traveled 4.67 miles. Damage was mainly to corn and soybean crops. The tornado skipped once in the middle of its path.
• EF-0, 7:04 p.m., 12.6 miles northeast of Van Wert, with estimated wind speed of 65 mph. The tornado was 20 yards wide and traveled 2.46 miles. Damage was mainly crop damage to corn and soybeans.

UPDATE @ 10:10 a.m. (Aug. 25)

Multiple surveys are planned today across northern Indiana and northwestern Ohio, according to the National Weather Service.

NWS officials will be coordinating with emergency management officials to survey at least two extensive swaths of damage.

One of the teams will examine damage from northern Allen County in Indiana into Defiance and Henry counties in Ohio.

The other team also will examine damage in Indiana, as well as in Van Wert, Paulding and Putnam counties in Ohio.

Additional surveys are possible as the extent of the damage is determined, the NWS said.

The National Weather Service in Wilmington tweeted out this morning: “Will be interesting to see results of storm surveys in northern Ohio. August single day tornado record for Ohio is 7 tornadoes on 8/28/2006.”

INITIAL REPORT (Aug. 24)

A confirmed tornado briefly touched ground Wednesday night near Toledo, the National Weather Service in Cleveland reported.

The tornado was spotted at 7:48 p.m. Wednesday in Whitehouse, a village in in Lucas County.

Kiss frontman Gene Simmons tweeted about the severe weather that moved through: “Believe it or not — tornado right over our heads at concert. People from street coming into hall. Show has been stopped #Toledo.”

The band’s Freedom to Rock Tour was performing at the Huntington Center in Lucas County.

On Monday, Kiss played at the Nutter Center at Wright State University in Fairborn.

The Huntington Arena box office said the Kiss concert resumed once the warning expired at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, the Toledo Blade reported. The entire Toledo area was under a tornado watch through 11 p.m.

Storm damage to trees, structures and power lines was reported in Henry, Defiance and Paulding counties as a storm passed between about 6 and 8 p.m. Wednesday as it roughly followed U.S. 24 and the Maumee River valley, the Toledo Blade reported.

In Western Ohio, an emergency official said at least two tornadoes hit Van Wert County after storms that spurred multiple twisters in Indiana moved across the state line.

The deputy director of the county’s Emergency Management Agency, Craig Staley, said Wednesday night that a third possible tornado was reported in his county, which borders Indiana, the Associated Press and WKYC reported.

There were reports of damage but no immediate reports of injuries, Staley said, as officials were tracking a second round of storms moving through the area.

The National Weather Service had issued weather alerts for those two counties and several others in Ohio.

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