NWS confirms EF-1 tornado touchdown in Windham Wednesday: latest updates

Tom Silver and his family surveyed the damage to their home, hours after one of his sons fought strong winds and avoided being pulled into a passing tornado Wednesday night.

"All this damage was done in about three seconds," Silver said.

His home on Windham Parkman Road was one of a handful in Windham Township that sustained heavy damage in the six-minute storm. The National Weather Service confirmed that an EF-1 tornado touched down about 6:45 p.m. Wednesday in Windham and lasted until about 6:51 p.m. The tornado traveled nearly 4 miles at a peak of 110 mph.

Ryan Shackelford, director of the Portage County Emergency Management Agency, said no injuries or fatalities have been reported. The EMA is using drones to assess the damage, including significant damage to multiple homes in the township, but doesn't have any numbers yet.

Most damage starts on state Route 303 at Stanley Road and heads northeast across Bryant Road, then over the Ohio Turnpike, Parkman Road and state Route 82.

Jim McIntyre, regional communications director of American Red Cross of Greater Akron and the Mahoning Valley, said the agency had caseworkers out in the field and providing assistance to five or six households.

Windham trustees will hold a special meeting at 2 p.m. Sunday at the township hall, 9011 N. Main St. in Windham, to discuss storm damage with residents. The EMA will attend.

Shackelford said Thursday afternoon that 22 homes had been assessed. Two had been destroyed — one on Bryant Road and one on Windham Parkman. Three others sustained major damage.

Residents clean up

Residents working to clean up from the storm damage told similar tales of not having much time to scramble to safety before the storm was over. Some had heard about tornadoes being spotted in Ohio but thought the storm was a few counties to the south.

Aherin Silver said he was on the third floor of his dad's home, trapped in a room because the wind had blown a box fan against the door. He could feel the wind trying to pull him away.

"I had to wedge my arm against a closet I was trying to get into," he said.

Tom Silver surveyed the damage, which included siding ripped off his home, broken windows, heavy damage to a barn and a porch that had moved off its foundation. A large tree, which was only a sapling when the family moved in about three decades ago, was resting on the house. A trailer, where a family had been staying, was flattened.

He counted his blessings. His roof was new, having just been replaced after a previous storm. And his background in construction told him he'd probably be able to fix the damage, and he vowed to do much of the work himself.

The family stayed with other relatives who live nearby.

Across the street, the owner of a home that sustained heavy damage declined to talk to a reporter. Trustee Brian Miller said he knows the family and remembers when they hosted large family reunions on the property.

"They're a good family," he said. "They've been through an awful lot."

Shackelford noted that neighbors were out early helping one another, activating chainsaws to remove fallen trees and putting tarps over damaged roofs and windows.

"We've seen an unbelievable amount of resilience from this community," he said.

Windham tornado siren didn't go off

Many residents said they got alerts on their phones, but had little or no time to scramble to the basement of their homes before the storm blew over.

In a Facebook post Wednesday night, the Village of Windham said the tornado siren for the area didn't go off. "The Windham Joint Fire District did attempt to activate the Siren," the post read. "They are looking into why it didn't work."

Windham cancels school Thursday, some Ohio Turnpike lanes reopen

Windham Exempted Village Schools called off school Thursday due to the storms and damage. A Facebook post said there were issues getting calls through Wednesday night to notify families, but updates will come once the school gets in touch with emergency personnel.

As of Thursday morning, about 24 homes and businesses were still affected by power outages according to FirstEnergy.

Power is expected to be restored by 6:30 p.m.

The Ohio Turnpike posted on Facebook Thursday morning that left and center lanes eastbound on the turnpike at milepost 202.8 in Portage County are open and restored after a wreck that involved three commercial vehicles Wednesday.

The right lane eastbound is still closed to fix a guardrail is expected reopen this afternoon.

Windham-Parkman Road is closed between state routes 82 and 303. Bryant Road is open, while 303 is reduced to one lane east into the village, and 82 has one lane between Horn Road and Windham-Parkman.

Salvation Army serving meals to those in need

The Windham Police Department posted on Facebook that the Salvation Army will be serving lunch at the Renaissance Family Center Thursday at 9005 Wilverne Drive at starting at 11:30 a.m. and hot dinners starting at 4:30 p.m.

Windham Village Mayor Lawrence Cunningham said in a Wednesday night phone interview that most of the damage he had observed was in the township, which wraps around the village. About 3,500 residents live in the village and township.

Cunningham said he began a survey of the area after a speech he was giving at the Lion's Club was interrupted by severe weather reports.

"There's some house damage on Windham-Parkman north of Wolf Road," he said. "We have some damage out on Route 303 in the township."

The mayor said service vehicles assisted a toppled semi on Interstate 80 heading east. Traffic was backed up for miles on that side of the turnpike after the tornado hit as service crews worked to clean up the damage.

Bryant Road, which runs under the turnpike, was closed to traffic following the storm.

"They have numerous vehicles right now, service vehicles, there helping them out," Cunningham said around 8:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Cunningham said other roads were blocked off as emergency personnel responded to the situation.

The mayor said he hadn't finished his survey of the area, but he was encouraged that he'd had no reports of injuries. 

"So far, that's the [only] good thing about what's going on," Cunningham said.

Anthony Thompson and Jeff Saunders contributed to this report. Leave a message for Alan Ashworth at 330-996-3859 or email him ataashworth@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @newsalanbeaconj or Facebook at www.facebook.com/alan.newsman.