Central Ohio cleanup underway as more storms loom
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- Clean-up efforts are underway for many people in southern Franklin County after Sunday night’s storm blew through.
Trees were ripped out of the ground, roofs damaged and some still without power as of 5 p.m. Monday as the region prepares for another possible round of severe weather this week.
Keith Patterson lives on Berkeley Road off East Whittier Street. He said as soon as the wind started to pick up, he and his son headed for shelter.
“We went to the basement and as we were going to the basement, we heard boom, boom and so I said, ‘I think the transformer, man, had just blown,’” Patterson said. “And so we were in the basement for about a half an hour when it kind of calmed down.”
Patterson said they lost power and when he finally came back upstairs to look outside, he saw a tree had snapped, but also saw lights outside which he found to be strange since they lost power.
“’Wait a minute, that's the car lights on,’ and so we looked at and opened the door -- trees across the car, covering the street all the way to those trees over there,” Patterson said.
One street over, resident Michael Frost said he and his family headed to their safe space during the storm, too.
“It started raining real hard, and my wife and I got to looking out the window,” Frost said. “We couldn't see anything because the rain was coming in so hard.”
He said it sounded like a train.
“It took our fence down, just blew it right over," Frost said. “We were lucky ‘cause it sounded like the roof was coming off, but we got really lucky.”
Both men and others in that neighborhood are now cleaning up the damage.
“So thank God -- that's the key thing -- nobody is hurt,” Patterson said. “This can be replaced.”
Franklin County Emergency Management Director Jeff Young said his crews were out around the county on Monday to survey the damage. The department also sounded the tornado sirens Sunday night in some parts of the county to be safe.
“We did see an area that kind of traversed the south portion of Franklin County, really from west to east, that had a little more intensity to it,” Young said.
He said with the potential for more severe weather on the way his team is watching closely.
“As it gets closer, that'll help us decide, you know, are we in a significant area or an elevated risk for damaging storms, and as it gets closer, then we will decide, you know, what our staffing level is," Young said.
Young said now is the time to start making those safety plans, which should include knowing where your safe space is. He said a safe space should be a windowless room at the lowest level possible.
Young said to also start a "go” bag with supplies in case you lose power. This should include all your necessities including flashlights, battery-powered radio, any medications you need and more. He said these plans can last you throughout the entire storm season.