Officials on Monday said the tornado that killed five people in northwest Ohio over the weekend,caused at least $100 million in damage.
Wood County Emergency Management Director Brad Gilbert said that at least 100 homes weredestroyed or severely damaged in the state's strongest storm in eight years, 10TV's Glenn McEntyrereported.
The National Weather Service said the tornado was Ohio's strongest in eight years, withpreliminary information indicating it rated a 3 on a 0-to-5 scale used to measure tornadoes, with 5being most severe.
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Category 3 tornadoes have top winds of up to 165 mph.
Authorities lowered the death toll from seven to five people on Monday afternoon, saying amiscommunication led to the error, 10TV's Jerry Revish reported.
Lake Township Police Chief Mark Hummer said Monday that officials likely double-counted peoplewho died at the hospital with victims previously identified as dying at the scene.
Police said a curfew will again be in place Monday night, from dusk until dawn.
The foundation of Tracy Lender's home looks like it was freshly poured, but it is actually aslab that was swept bare of where her two-story home once stood.
"Our house just started shaking and it was just, terrible noises," Lenders said. "And we justfelt the house blow away."
She and her family were safely in the basement, praying for the storm to pass. After the storm,Lenders said she was not prepared for what she would see.
"I just heard a lot of screaming, and I saw no houses," Lenders said.
John Roelle and his two teenage children got to their basement with seconds to spare, McEntyrereported.
"It's like a scene out of a movie, you know, the movie 'Twister,' that's exactly what it lookslike out here, it doesn't look real," he said. "As I'm going down the steps, I could feel thewalls, or see the walls I should say, coming down."
Love ones gathered to pray at the home of Mary Walters where she and her 4-year-old son, Hayden,died in the storm, McEntyre reported.
The Wood County coroner also has identified three other victims: 56-year-old Kathleen Hammitt ofWauseon, 56, Bailey Bowman, 21, of Walbridge and Ted Kranz, 46, of Millbury.
Kranz was the father of Katie Kranz, the valedictorian from Lake High School, which wasdestroyed before Sunday's planned graduation. It has been rescheduled for Tuesday.
Gov. Ted Strickland visited Wood County on Sunday to survey the damage.
Strickland said the community is pulling together but warned it will take quite some time toclean up the debris and begin to rebuild.
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources said that about 400 acres of the Maumee State Forestwere damaged. The Maumee State Forest APV area in Fulton County and Tower Bridle Trail in LucasCounty are both closed.
The roof and a back wall were torn off the nearby Lake High School gymnasium and buses wereflipped and one was tossed across a school parking lot.
At least 17 people were hospitalized with injuries, and two adults and two children were incritical condition.
The tornado is the most severe since a 2002 storm in northwest Ohio that killed five people.
In central Ohio, Richland County authorities said it appeared a tornado destroyed a barn anddamaged a home near Mansfield, 10TV News reported. No injuries werereported.
Authorities said a tornado was also reported near Danville, in Knox County. No damage wasreported there.
The storm swept through Marysville, leaving downed power lines and toppling trees. The NationalWeather Service confirmed late Monday that a weak tornado did touch down in Union County.
John Huffman's Marysville home was damaged.
"Part of the roof is in the trees there, it sheared off my tree there," Huffman said. "Thank Godwe are alive."
Several homes were damaged, but no injuries were reported.
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