Millbury man hurt in tornado dies

MILLBURY — An 87-year man whose house was destroyed in the June 5 tornado that raked northern Wood County has died of what relatives described as complications from injuries he suffered in the storm.

But Steve Kahle, a Lucas County Coroner's investigator, said it would likely be several weeks before the death of Irwin Welling could be confirmed as tornado-related.

Mr. Welling died Thursday in Toledo Hospital.

He and his wife, Alberna, were inside their Moline-Martin Road home when it was leveled by the severe tornado that killed six people and injured 28. They were rescued 20 minutes later from their home's rubble and treated for what was reported later as cuts and bruises from their ordeal. He subsequently was a patient at St. Charles Mercy Hospital for medical care unrelated to the tornado.

Mr. Kahle said the coroner's office had no listing of Mr. Welling and thus would have to subpoena hospital records before it could officially add his name to the tornado's death toll.