Wood County officials prepare for heavy rains in tornado-ravaged areas
6/8/2010Safety forces in Wood County plan to spend the day preparing their area for heavy rains that are in the forecast for Tuesday evening, officials said at a news conference.
Their main focus will be to put tarps over the roof of the ruined schools and to clean out ditches because they are afraid standing water in those ditches could overflow into open basements.
The daily news conference by Lake Township Fire Chief Todd Walters and Police Chief Mark Hummer also revealed that chain saws were taken from a truck at the county highway garage, but the fear of looting has now been replaced by concern for the safety of residents.
That is why a dusk to dawn curfew will be in effect again on Tuesday evening, although the safety officials are saying it will then be lifted.
The two also said that there is a team from the Federal Emergency Management Agency who on Tuesday is touring the damaged administration building and the ruined schools.
After visiting the area on Monday, National Weather Service meteorologists have upgraded the intensity of the weekend tornado to an EF4 tornado.
The meteorologists said the tornado that touched down in northeast Wood County and western Ottawa County had winds of 170 to 175 miles per hour and touched down at approximately 11:20 p.m. It cut a path from 8 to 10 miles wide.
According to the weather service, the first touch down was near I-80 and Oregon Road, east of Perrysburg. It then moved through the south side of Moline, on to near the former Metcalf Field, now called Toledo Executive Airport, and then across the northwest side of Millbury and into Ottawa County, following Trowbridge Road.
It lifted at approximately 11:35 p.m., just west of Clay Center, according to the NWS.
The two tornadoes that touched down in Fulton County and Monroe County have been rated EF2, which means they had winds of 111-135 miles per hour.