Monday, June 7, 2010

F2 Tornado Rips Through NorthWest Ohio




Click to read full story from CNN

(CNN) -- Seven people were killed in Ohio as severe thunderstorms and tornadoes raked the Midwest on Saturday and early Sunday, authorities said.

The deaths came in Wood County when a tornado touched down there overnight, state Emergency Management Agency spokeswoman Kelli Blackwell told CNN. Wood County is about 30 miles south of Toledo.

A 5-year-old child was among the deaths in Millbury, Ohio, according to Wood County dispatchers, who received the information from Lake Township Police Chief Mark Hummer. Four other victims ranged in age from 20 to 56, dispatchers said, and details on the remaining two were not immediately available.

A man was also found dead in the street in Millbury, and two adults died in a van in Lake Township, about five miles from Millbury, Blackwell said.

In Michigan, 11 people were injured when a storm struck Monroe County, and damage to the exterior wall of the Fermi 2 Nuclear Power Plant prompted an automatic shutdown, said Dan Smith, spokesman for the county's emergency management division. The plant will remain closed until crews have assessed the damage, he said.

Ten people were taken to hospitals by ambulance, and one was flown, after the storm struck about 3 a.m. Sunday, Smith said. Field crews were assessing the number of homes and businesses damaged in Dundee Village and Dundee Township, he said.


Up to 500 people staying at a water park resort were evacuated safely to a middle school, Smith said.

Several other communities in Illinois were hard-hit by severe weather. The town of Streator looks "like a war zone," Mayor Jimmie Lansford said. A total of 50 people were triaged, and 17 were transferred to hospitals and later released, he said.

The National Weather Service confirmed Sunday the tornado was an F2, with winds between 113 and 157 mph. Officials report about 30 homes damaged, including three destroyed on the south side of Streator.

"It cut a path from the west side of town all the way through to the east side of town," Lansford said.


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