Severe thunderstorms that blew through Lawrence and Scioto counties Wednesday spawned two F1 tornadoes, and have local emergency officials looking for assistance.

Friday, August 11, 2000

Severe thunderstorms that blew through Lawrence and Scioto counties Wednesday spawned two F1 tornadoes, and have local emergency officials looking for assistance.

The National Weather Service in Charleston, W.Va., confirmed Thursday that the twisters touched down in Rome Township near Athalia in Lawrence County and in Scioto County near Wheelersburg, after damage assessment teams visited the areas.

The Athalia tornado, measured by weather service officials as F1 in strength on the Fujita scale, struck at 8:30 p.m.

Wind speeds averaged between 73 and 112 miles per hour.

Damage began on County Road 12 near the five-mile marker, where the twister destroyed a mobile home. The tornado traveled across County Road 42 toward Ohio 7, snapping off trees, damaging several homes and destroying a barn on County Road 420, the weather service reported.

The damage path was about two miles long and 75 to 100 yards wide.

The tornado crossed the Ohio River and struck Cox Landing in Cabell County, W.Va., where it lifted the roof off an apartment building and knocked down trees on a nearby golf course.

No major injuries were reported to Lawrence County 911 or the Emergency Management Agency, officials said.

High winds, hail, rain and lightning hit hardest near Rome Township and northern Lawrence, generating about 17 to 18 damage reports, said Larry Jewell of the county EMA.

Two trailers were destroyed while homes, barns, tractors, bales of hay and vehicles also suffered damage, Jewell said.

"Right now, we’re assessing the damage and will try to see what assistance is available for people," he said. "But I don’t know if there will be any."

In the aftermath of Wednesday’s storms, county residents removed many trees from roadways with chainsaws, and electric crews from Buckeye Rural and AEP worked through the night to restore power, the EMA reported.

In Scioto County, a similar F1 twister struck about 7:50 p.m., east of Portsmouth.

The tornado knocked two railroad cars off tracks, damaged a few homes and knocked down numerous trees, the weather service reported.

The damage was spotty in nature and was embedded in countywide straight-line wind damage, officials said.

Across the Tri-State power was knocked out to tens of thousands of homes. Crews from all states, and volunteers from neighboring ones, are still working to restore power in some parts of West Virginia.

The National Weather Service reported that at the 9 p.m. peak of the storms, the National Lightning Detection System recorded 11,000 cloud-to-ground strikes from the Huntington, W.Va., area east through Charleston, W.Va. – or 200 strikes per minute.

Forecasters predicts calm weather this weekend and into early next week.