FRANKLIN COUNTY, Ohio — Wednesday morning’s storm system produced tornadoes across central Ohio and one of them destroyed at least one home in Jefferson Township, located east of Gahanna.
Driving down McOwen Road, the full scope of the damage comes into view. Trees and debris litter the road ditches, power lines are twisted and tangled and a large metal storage container is standing on its end in a tree line.
Farther down, a house is destroyed. The exterior walls are standing, but most of the roof is gone and a car is buried beneath the garage debris.
Philip Bassham is the pastor of a local church and was on his way to an early morning Bible study as the storm was approaching. He said his friend called him to tell him they should cancel. Bassham turned around and got back to his home just in time.
“I turned around and came right back home. I pulled in the garage and closed the door. Went and checked the bedrooms where my wife and kids were. They weren’t there, so they were in the basement. I went to the basement and within three or four minutes of that, everything happened,” Bassham said.
After the storm passed, he said they called their families to tell them they were alright. Family and friends came to the home to offer a helping hand, as did the neighbors.
“It’s been incredible to see how people come together whenever there’s something like this that happened on their road to someone they may not know that well. It’s incredible to see,” he said.
As someone who is used to helping others in their time of need, it’s now his turn to accept the help.
“I’ve never been through anything like this on a personal level. As a pastor, I typically show up on the scene to help people when they’re in trouble, whenever something like this happened in their life,” he said. “Now I’m on the receiving end of people coming to help me. That’s sometimes a hard place for me to be because I love to help people, but I also need to learn to receive help.”
At the end of the day, he said he’s thankful because he and his family were able to walk away.
“The second that everybody was gone, this overwhelming sense of gratitude, literally that three minutes, I could have been out, I could have been driving up the driveway when it hit. That’s not the case,” he said. “God was protecting me.”
He said they have family and friends they will stay with until they have a permanent place to live.
The American Red Cross was at the family's home earlier in the day offering them help. Red Cross teams traveled throughout central Ohio surveying the damage to see who needed help and how.