Nearly 100 homes hit by tornado
Agency says 8 homes destroyed, 85 damaged in Clark County.
Clark County residents on Thursday continued to clean up after an EF-2 tornado, the county’s strongest in decades, destroyed eight homes and damaged 85 more early Wednesday morning.
The storm traveled 18.7 miles across eastern Clark County into Madison County starting at 4:52 a.m., reaching maximum wind speeds of 120 mph, according to the National Weather Service in Wilmington.
Clark County Emergency Management Agency Director Michelle Clements-pitstick said at a press conference Thursday the early-morning tornado damaged 93 homes, with eight being destroyed — meaning down to the foundation — 12 being majorly damaged, 21 minorly damaged and 52 being affected in any other way. Community partners have come together to assist in cleanup, and the EMA is continuing damage assessment.
Clements-pitstick said the three individuals who reported injuries were taken to the hospital “out of an abundance of caution.”
Clements-pitstick said the fact that there were no more injuries is “a testament to the preparedness efforts of our community.”
The most significant damage is around Mitchell Road in Springfield Twp., Clements-pitstick said.
The warning system — phone notifications, news app notifications, NOAA weather radios and tornado sirens — worked as designed, Clements-pitstick said. Everyone with whom the EMA spoke whose properties were damaged said they were alerted to the tornado in some way.
“The biggest message with the tornado sirens is just please remember that those are meant to be heard outdoors; they’re not meant to wake you up from a dead sleep in the middle of the night,” Clements-pitstick said.
Wednesday’s storm was the strongest tornado in Clark County in nearly 50 years. Two tornadoes hit here on April 3, 1974, the same day as the deadly Xenia tornado.
Clark County had 698 customers still without power as of 2:30 p.m. Thursday, with a large
by check after work is completed.
Personal information like Social Security numbers and credit card numbers should not be given out, according to the document.
“Federal, state and local programs will not ask for bank account or Social Security number unless you initiate the call,” the document stated.
Anyone with destroyed or severely damaged properties can fill out destroyed-home forms through the county auditor’s office to apply for tax breaks or refunds. The forms must be notarized and include information about the damage outlined in the documents.
Clements-pitstick thanked first responders, EMA volunteers and other community partners. She said numerous
organizations are helping, including Springfield’s Saint Vincent de Paul, the Salvation Army, the American Red Cross, Masters of Disaster, Team Rubicon, AT&T First Net and the Second Harvest Food Bank.
United Way of Clark, Champaign and Madison Counties director Kerry Pedraza said the organization will accept donations for a disaster relief fund that is earmarked for Clark County residents.
Anyone wanting to donate to the disaster relief fund can do so at Park National Bank under United Way Disaster Relief, or on United Way’s website. Donations can also be made by check to UWCCMC or at UWCCMC.ORG by clicking the donate button and navigating to disaster relief.
Pedraza said UWCCMC is not taking any administrative fees so that “100% of all donations will go back out into the community.”
Specific distributions will be decided by a committee to be comprised of organizations likely including the EMA, schools, UWCCMC and other nonprofits who will discuss how best to give out the funds, Pedraza said. The committee will be pulled together as soon as next week.
“No doubt, all of the funds will directly benefit those who were involved in the disaster,” Pedraza said.