Sat Nov 07 2009
By LISA NICELY
SHERWOOD -- One tornado touched down near Sherwood on Sunday, according to the National Weather Service.
Teams from the NWS were in the Sherwood area on Monday to survey the damage from the tornado that touched down about 6:04 p.m. Sunday. The tornado was an EF0, the weakest on the scale measuring tornado strength, with wind speed of 80-85 mph. The tornado's path skipped along 5.1 miles, with a width of 50 yards.
No one was injured.
Julie Rittenhouse, director of the Defiance County Emergency Management Agency, said the advanced warning really helped to ensure there were no injuries.
"I'm hoping it's a result of the weather sirens we have in the county," she said. "I think the fact that some of the TV stations had the warnings up helped. Because it happened out in the country, everyone said they saw it coming and were able to seek shelter in time, too."
Four houses in the Sherwood area were damaged as well as several outbuildings. No damage estimates were available.
"Everybody was insured so that was a good thing," said Rittenhouse, adding that because everyone is insured and won't need state or federal aid, damage information will not be gathered by the EMA.
While it was a single tornado, NWS officials say it lifted and touched down several times in the Sherwood area.
"From my understanding this was a weak tornado, although the wind was on the high side for that level," said Rittenhouse. "When you have a weaker tornado like that it tends to skip. A stronger tornado tends to spend more time on the ground.
"They (NWS) could see exactly where it skipped. There was one home we stopped at we could see where it touched down in the field and then bounced over the house. You could see in this one spot in the cornfield the stalks were laying down and pushed in a certain direction. They said that's typical of a touchdown."
Damage began just east of Mark Center along Williams Center-Cecil Road, then headed down Ohio 18.
The twister lifted but touched ground again along Openlander Road between Lockwood Road and Ohio 18.
The tornado lifted up again before touching down along Buckskin Road, east of U.S. 127. It lifted one more time and to finally touch down along Mud Creek Road.
There were also reports of funnel clouds spotted near the Meijer store on the north side of Defiance, at Jericho Road and U.S. 127, and outside of Cecil.
Other tornadoes were confirmed in Indiana, including ones in Lawrence County, with another in Columbia City.
Rittenhouse said this event and others help to showcase the need to be prepared in an emergency.
"With the tornado activity, the flood activity, this is a perfect example of why we need members of the community trained in the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training," she said.
The training (see related story on page A1), will be held this weekend. It includes sessions in wound care management, search and rescue, disaster preparedness and more.
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