COLUMBUS – A 13-year-old northeast Ohio girl was among more than two dozen people who died in an outbreak of violent weather that tore across the nation’s midsection late Friday and Saturday.
According to a report by CBS News, police in Warren Township, about 50 miles east of Cleveland, say the teen was killed Saturday afternoon when a large oak tree fell onto her home, trapping her under the rubble.
Firefighters were delayed in reaching the girl due to the extensive damage, which made the structure unstable, police said. She died at the scene.
Severe weather spawned minor tornadoes in western Ohio and knocked out power to thousands of people. Wind gusts of approximately 50 mph were reported at airports in Columbus, Lancaster and Newark.
The National Weather Service in Wilmington confirmed that an EF1 tornado touched down just before 1:00 a.m. Saturday near Wapakoneta in Auglaize County, injuring several people and causing significant damage.
Seven people were hurt when the twister, packing 110 mph winds, flipped trailers at a campground near the I-75/U.S. Route 33 interchange where a truck stop suffered serious damage and several tractor-trailer rigs were knocked over, weather service investigators reported.
A large commercial greenhouse was completely leveled, a historic brick school building was destroyed and several other structures suffered significant damage.
Another tornado was confirmed near Troy, in Miami County.
American Electric Power reported Sunday afternoon that crews had restored electricity to almost 67,000 of the more than 75,000 customers who lost power at the height of the storm.
Crews from as far away as Texas traveled to assist in power restoration efforts.
The hardest hit areas include northwest and northeast Ohio, utility officials said.
Storms claim at least 26 lives
Storms that dropped possibly dozens of tornadoes killed at least 32 people (new figure) as confirmed or suspected tornadoes struck 11 states and destroyed homes and businesses, splintered trees and lay waste to neighborhoods across the South and Midwest.
The storms tore a path through the Arkansas capital and collapsed the roof of a packed concert venue in Illinois.
People throughout the region were stunned with the scope of the damage.
The dead included nine in one Tennessee county, four in the small town of Wynne, Arkansas, four in Illinois and three in nearby Sullivan, Ind.
Other deaths were reported elsewhere in Tennessee and in Alabama and Mississippi, along with one near Little Rock, Arkansas.