Dayton Daily News from Dayton, Ohio • 4

A4 DAYTON DAILY NEWS FROM THE FRONT PA6R MONDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2002 Ohio 5 y'K BILL GARLOWDAYTON DAILY NEWS THIS WAS ONE of the many houses damaged in Putnam County during Sunday's storms. The residents of this house were out of town. Putnam Co. At least two dead west of Continental Irumc rt AlLfN CO. Seneca Co.

At least one dead 9 miles east of Tiffin in Republic DEADLY DAY: Killer storms sweep across Midwest Early Sunday severe storms in Tennessee spawned tornadoes, knocked out power and left at least five people dead and 25 others injured. Sunday evening a separate group of severe storms and tornadoes left at least five dead across northwestern Ohio. village of Republic, about four or five homes were damaged along County Road 38, where one man also died. Stahl did not know the man's identity. In the southern end of Tiffin, some homes were severely damaged in the St.

Francis Villas. Just south of the city in Clinton one home was destroyed and several were heavily damaged in the Honeycreek subdivision, Stahl said. About 40 miles northeast of Van Wert in Hamler, the storm knocked rail cars off their track, the Henry County Sheriffs Office said. In the Miami Valley, there were reports of only minor flooding and power failures. Dayton Power and Light Co.

duty officer Rick Maday said about 2,500 customers lost power in the storm in scattered failures. By midnight, power was restored to all but about 200 customers. "It was pretty minimal," Maday said. Signs warning of high water were put out in Preble County. There were also reports of numerous accidents along Interstate 75, and traffic was stopped in both directions of the interstate near Ohio 571 in Miami County.

The National Weather Service in Wilmington said it received scattered reports of hail ranging from the size of quarters to golf balls. Large hail was reported near New Carlisle in Clark County, areas of Champaign County between Urbana and Mechanics-burg and in East Dayton, weather service Meteorologist Don Hughes said. Although it is rare to have tornadoes in Ohio in the fall, it is not unheard of, said Sam Lashley, senior meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Syracuse, Ind. "Tornadoes can happen anywhere at any time if the atmospheric condition is ripe for it," Lashley said. "The Great Lakes are fairly warm and they can actually add to some instability in the atmosphere." A weather system that included high temperatures ahead of a strong cold front, along with strong winds in the atmosphere, helped create Sunday's tornadoes, Lashley said.

Emergency officials in numerous Ohio counties reported widespread damage to barns, homes and businesses. Columbus and Mansfield saw whipping winds and golf ball-size hail. Thousands of homes and businesses were without power in northwest Ohio, including most of the city of Port Clinton and scattered failures in Toledo suburbs, FirstEnergy Corp. spokesman Mark Durbin said. Based on past experience with such storms, restoration in some areas "could be stretching into days," Durbin said.

In Port Clinton along Lake Erie, the storm shattered windows at Magruder Memorial Hospital, including in the emergency room, said hospital president Dave Norwine. No one inside the hospital was injured, although people in town were coming in for treatment, Norwine said. "We have had patients come in whose homes were significantly damaged," he said. Winds also toppled a tractor-trailer on 1-75 just south of Toledo. Highway signs were uprooted and tossed across the road.

Contact Wes Hills at 225-2261 or wes hillscoxohio.com or Rob Modic at 225-2282 or robmodicgcoxohio.com. This story contains information reported by The Associated Press. Van Wert Co. At least two dead in Van Wert LOGAN CO. Map area We'do Cleveland Storms rip across state, leave Jive dead CONTINUED FROM Al deadliest in Ohio since May 31, 1985, when 10 died and 250 were injured in a Trumbull County twister.

Earlier Sunday, severe storms killed at least five and injured more than two dozen people in Tennessee. Storms with possible tornadoes swept through rural southern Illinois and intoadjoininglndiana, as well. Early warnings in Van Wert County, however, prevented massive tragedy at a local movie theater, where two of five cinemas in a steel-shell building were destroyed by the twister, said Rick McCoy, director of the Van Wert County Emergency Management Agency. "We got a warning 20 minutes early to them, and they moved everybody into the center of the building," McCoy said. "There were no injuries.

It was a miracle. They got them to the right place at the right time. "They had hit movies out there. It was a matinee time. I understand there were a lot of kids." When the storm entered the county, McCoy said, four twisters were on the ground.

By the time it got to the city, they had merged into one. McCoy said he was on the phone to the National Weather Service, which said "it had just become a monster." The tornado could be seen out of the window of the emergency management office, McCoy said. "It looked like a monster, cone-shaped cloud on the ground coming at you," he said. McCoy said "such wedge tornadoes generally run from one-quarter mile to 2 miles wide." He estimated the tornado was an F4 category twister, which can pack winds of 270 mph. McCoy said officials wouldn't know the extent of the damage until daybreak.

He estimated at least 5,000 people were without power. Some people, such as Jim Foster, were just happy to be alive. Foster, 54, who lives on the outskirts of Van Wert, got caught by a tornado as he was trying to run to his neighbor's house, which has a basement. He didn't quite make it. As he reached the front door of the house the tornado began to suck him away, said his wife, Carla Foster, who was not home at the time but has since spoken with her husband.

"My husband was holding on to their front doorknob with two hands," Carla Foster said. "He was a miracle survivor." After the storm passed, she said, the neighbors came out of the house and found her dazed husband lying by the front door in the heavily damaged house. Foster was one of three people admitted to Van Wert County Hospital with storm-related injuries. He was in fair condition Sunday night with a concussion, a broken collar bone, broken ribs, and minor cuts to his head. The last thing her husband can remember, Carla Foster said, is hanging onto the doorknob as the tornado tried to pull him away.

Another lucky survivor is 50-year-old Charles Lehmkuhl, who also lives just northwest of Van Wert. Lehmkuhl had a house with a bay window that faced an industrial park that was destroyed by the tornado, his son Eric Mi til lf Dayton (olumbus Dayton Cincinnati OHIO WARf CO. ILL. VA. MO.

KY. Severe storms knocked out power to 2,700 homes Tornado blew mobile home off its foundation, killing two TgTmTWjlO CUKRflll'CD I Nashville TENNESSEE 4 Bells I -Tornado struck a mobile N.C. home, killing a woman Memphis MISS. Terifte GA. ALA.

i PAT GAIETTOASSOCIATED PRESS STAFF MEMBERS of the St. Wendelin school in Fostoria and volunteers move items from classrooms into the gym after a possible tornado ripped a gaping hole in the roof Sunday evening. DAYTON DAILY NEWSASSOCIATED PRESS scores of people left homeless are being housed at the Van Wert High School or a local church. She said the county is receiving assistance from neighboring county and city rescue teams. "Everyone around the area has really been great about calling and asking if there is anything they can do," Stutz said.

"And everybody is volunteering." She said the tornado "started at the state line and went up U.S. 24 and went right around Van Wert and right out north of town." In Putnam County, the tornadoes destroyed the Branham trailer and damaged several homes and other trailers, Putnam Sheriffs Deputy Sgt. Brad Nelson said. No other injuries were reported, he said. In Seneca County, rail cars were knocked off their tracks in Fostoria and a chimney at the city's community hospital collapsed, said Dan Stahl, Seneca County Emergency Management Agency director.

About 3 miles north of the SOURCES: Associated Press, ESRI, Staff reports people are going road to road, house to house," she said. Brian Farris of Van Wert told The Associated Press he saw a tornado touch down just outside of the city and level a house. "It pulled everything off, set it down, then threw it in a field," he said. "It was on the ground at least a mile." "I looked up and this big pine tree was coming right at me," Larry Longwell told the AP. He said he ran from his trailer to the store.

"It was just a rumble." Two people who were killed were also brought to the hospital. The hospital had no information regarding their identities or how they died. "Our entire medical staff came in," said Eric Jones, vice president of physician and community service at Van Wert County Hospital. "Our disaster drill worked very well." At 8 p.m., Jones said all the people had been treated in the emergency room, and "most of them have been sent home." Stutz said the county was "under a state of emergency" and Lehmkuhl, 21, said. His father and younger brother, Nick, saw the tornado coming, he said.

Nick got down into a crawl space, and just as his father was getting in, the tornado hit. "As soon as my Dad looked back up, the house was gone," Eric Lehmkuhl said. His father suffered a broken leg and was treated at a Van Wert County Hospital and released, he said. The only trace of the house is the foundation, he said. "My dad's got a Corvette that's about 100 yards out in the field." Of the 17 injured in the county, three were admitted, 11 were treated and released, and three were flown to Fort Wayne with serious injuries, a hospital spokesman said.

About 4 miles southwest of Continental, a tornado destroyed the trailer home of Denver and Cretie Branham, killingthe couple and critically injuring their adult daughter, Margie Branham, who was taken to St. Rita's Hospital in Lima. Linda Stutz, spokeswoman for the Van Wert County Sheriffs Office, said the property damage was massive. "We have houses that are just totally gone," Stutz said. "We have several businesses on the northwest part of the city that have been devastated," including National Door and Trim and KAM Manufacturing.

She had no names of the dead or how they died. "I have no clue how many are injured," Stutz said. She said she was unaware of any people still trapped in debris or in their basements. "Our emergency Storm SPRINGSTEEN 1-CARAT and LARGER DIAMONDS and RARE COLORED DIAMONDS DAYTON Michael's Jewelry in Centerville is having a sale on the largest and rarest diamonds in the world now through Saturday November 16. Michael's Jewelry will have on hand a very large selection of I -carat to 5 -carat diamonds to choose from.

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A Tipton County man was in fair condition after a flower shop on the Covington town square collapsed. In western Tennessee, tornadoes damaged a dormitory at Union University in Jackson, several homes and a nursing home in Bells, 150 miles southwest of Nashville. The storms cut a path similar to tornadoes that devastated Clarks-ville and Jackson in 1999, killing To take advantage of this unique, special offer, call LOGAN SERVICES at 223-2222 or 1-800-LOGAM 1. This is a limited supply offer, so please don't delay your call. By the way, this payment is based on an 80,000 BTU system, which means homeowners with smaller systems will pay even less per month.

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Parts of more than 60 counties in middle and western Tennessee were under tornado watches, and possible tornadoes were spotted on National Weather Service radar, but no damage was reported. Two possible tornadoes also touched down Sunday in rural areas of southern Illinois, but no damage was reported, the weather service and local officials said. The storm system also caused damage in parts of Mississippi and Alabama, where tornadoes were also sighted..