The Cincinnati Enquirer from Cincinnati, Ohio • Page 4

A4 Saturday, Ami. 10, 1999 WMOE The Cincinnati Enquirer Call US' Tell us how Friday's tornado affected you. The Enquirermnjs to hear Zl 1 tn uour community. Who did you help? Who helped you? XSrrSX ore-mail us by 1 p.m. today and we will share ie ou ex eSces with our readers.

Pleaw ndude your name, neighborhood rrnrT of Destri CTION E-mail: The search Rescuer team did tough job xx -fe Cgi9BHKfln9fi9HHHH The Cincinnati EnquirerGlenn Hartong Firefighters remove a body found off Cornell Road in a field near Sycamore High School. Lee Cook and his wife, Jacqueline, were killed. The victims Two died in field; two died on roads BY MICHAEL D. CLARK The Cincinnati Enquirer It was the sort of disaster Steve Ashbrock had envisioned for Hamilton County's first-ever search and rescue team, but it still didn't prepare him for the nightmare of devastation. "I've never seen anything like this.

It's amazing," said Mr. Ashbrock, commissioner of the Hamilton County Urban Search and Rescue Task Force (USAR), as he gazed over the tornado-damaged homes across from Sycamore High School in the Montgomery Woods subdivision. "This type of damage is overwhelming to any fire department in the county," Mr. Ashbrock said. USAR is the county's first attempt to combine countywide fire, rescue and emergency-medical agencies for unusual and deadly rescues or large-scale disasters.

More than 40 USAR members were at the Cornell Road scene about 45 minutes after the destruction of the Montgomery Woods subdivision was broadcast to fire and police departments. With the help of specially trained search and cadaver dogs, USAR went house to house, checking, helping the injured and looking for bodies. They found two Mr. and Mrs. Lee Cook, who died when their home on Cornell was hit.

After searching homes the USAR members, volunteers from county fire departments, marked the homes or rubble with spray paint signifying that the structure had been checked, residents located, and whether there was a gas leak or other hazard. But Dr. Edward Otten, USAR member and professor of emergency medicine at the University of Cincinnati, had perhaps the toughest task. Dr. Otten, who is also chief medical officer for the National Disaster Medical System, had to tell the Cooks' son they were dead.

"That's the worst job. When you have to tell someone that both their parents are dead," said Dr. Otten. The Cincinnati EnquirerGlenn Hartong A dog trained to search rubble accompanies a member of the search team along Lakewater Drive in Montgomery. Montgomery Assistant Fire Chief Tom Wolf praised USAR, which Montgomery fire officials called to assist the more than 150 firefighters, police, emergency and disaster officials summoned to tornado touchdown sites in northern Hamilton County.

"USAR was phenomenal. What a valuable resource," Assistant Chief Wolf said. "Within 45 minutes, they had started to set up here." It was the second and clearly the largest test for USAR. which is one of only 27 urban search and rescue teams established across the country. The task force was formed in 1997.

but did not become operational until earlier this year. In January USAR helped save a Price Hill man who was buried in tons of mud when the trench he was working in collapsed. USAR members made their final sweep through the Montgomery Woods subdivision and at 1:15 p.m. declared the area all clear of injured or dead. taurant, officials said.

The accident occurred about 5:30 a.m., police said. The restaurant was closed Friday because it had no electricity. Mr. Lewis also was killed while driving. He was westbound on 1-275 near the Montgomery Road interchange.

Two other vehicles, including a tractor-trailer, also were lifted from the highway, police said. Those drivers were injured but survived, according to the Ohio State Highway Patrol. Efforts to reach relatives of Mr. Lewis and Mr. Smith were unsuccessful Friday.

The Hamilton County Coroner's Office would not release any information about them or Mr. and Mrs. Cook. The Cooks were sleeping in the second-floor bedroom of their home, police said, when high winds hit their house. Their bodies were found across Cornell Road in a field near Sycamore High School.

Mr. Cook was a chemical engineer who recently opened a BY MARK CURNUTTE The Cincinnati Enquirer Four people were killed in Friday morning's storm, two of them as they drove on interstate highways near Montgomery, according to the Hamilton County coroner. Dead are Charles S. Smith, 40, of 6432 Smith Road, Love-land; Donald E. Lewis, 38, of 6463 Hunt Road, Blanchester; and Lee Cook, 58, and his wife, Jacqueline, 52, who lived at 7575 Cornell Road, Montgomery, across from Sycamore High School.

Mr. Smith was the manager of the Bob Evans Restaurant at 5875 Pfeiffer Road in Blue Ash. He was driving north on Interstate 71, about a half mile north of Pfeiffer Road. His car was lifted off the pavement, and he was thrown from the vehicle. He was pronounced dead at the scene by the Hamilton County coroner, Blue Ash police said.

He was headed home after working overnight at the res The Cincinnati EnquirerGlenn Hartong Rescue workers search Friday morning for the driver of this car found with lights and radio on and the engine running. The bodies of Lee and Jacqueline Cook, who were sleeping and blown from their house, were found nearby. Mr. Cook's business was Lee Cook Intake Screen Inc. The Cooks are survived by two children.

A son, Ryan, is a recent Sycamore High School graduate, and a daughter lives in the Detroit area. "He was a leader," said John Micketts, who formerly worked with Mr. Cook at Cook Screen on Glendale-Milford Road. "He will be missed in the industry, even though he was a competitor," Mr. Micketts said Friday.

business in his home. He was considered an international leader in the development of screens to deal with zebra mussels. The aquatic pest has become well-known in the Great Lakes and has worked its way into Ohio's inland waters. House is a cheap price to pay for life "When I went back upstairs after the tornado, part of the roof was on my bed and Calvin was gone." Calvin and Hobbes are sisters. The 7-year-old cats are brown with black tiger stripes.

"I know it's crazy at a time like this to wonder where your cats are," Eleanor said. "But Calvin and Hobbes are a part of the family." Eleanor told her story as she sat in the emergency shelter the Red Cross set up in the lunchroom of Sycamore Junior High School. She noticed the clock on the wall had stopped at 5:17 a.m. "That's about the time the tornado hit," Eleanor said. She remembered waking up to the sound of thunder and the Friday was garbage day on Eleanor Bardes' street.

The cans still sit by the curb. Now, you can put her house out with the trash. "It's a total loss," Eleanor told me. "We won't be living there anymore." Even though she lost everything she owns in Friday's deadly tornado, Eleanor feels lucky. She and her husband of 38 years, Bruce Bardes, got out of their Cornell Road home "without a scratch." Eleanor didn't miss any of the belongings she left behind.

But she hoped to be reunited with Calvin and Hobbes. They're the family cats given to her by her daughter, Liz. "Calvin was on my bed when the storm hit," Eleanor said. Then all was still. "It was all over in 30 seconds." Eleanor and Bruce made their way upstairs.

They wanted to get out of their pajamas and into something warmer. Unfortunately, their clothes and most of the second floor were gone. "I'm wearing a sweatsuit that a neighbor from down the road gave me," Eleanor said. "I don't know her that well. She wanted to help because she felt blessed.

Her house had been spared." Eleanor's back yard also suffered at the hands of the tornado. Twenty tall pines, part of a grove of pine trees, were flattened. The trees lay scattered on the ground like giant toothpicks dumped from a box. For someone who had just lost the place she called home for 20 years in under a minute, Eleanor remained dry-eyed and clear-headed. "What can you do?" she said.

"I can't do anything about it. I can't chase tornadoes away." Eleanor may have lost her home. But her perspective on life remains intact. Sunday is her birthday. "I'm 29 and counting." She figures she already has the best birthday gift anyone could ever receive.

She's alive. Columnist Cliff Radel can be reached at fax 768-8340. CLIFF RAPEL flashes of lightning. "I figured I better unplug the computer in case of a power surge." Just then, sirens sounded. Bruce and Eleanor headed for the basement.

"Just as we made it down there, the lights went out." She remembers hearing the telltale theme song, the roar of a passing freight train. The Cincinnati Enquirer'Saed Hindash Eleanor Bardes is comforted by her niece Cara Bardes-Alpern of Hyde Park, at the Red Cross shelter in Sycamore Junior High School. Friday morning's tornado destroyed Mrs. Bardes' home on Cornell Road Coping with the STORM i CURFEWS Curfews are in effect from 8 p.m. to 7 a.m.

through Sunday in Millington Court and Fallingston Court area of Blue Ash, Millwood subdivision in Sycamore Township and Symmes Township. Curfew violators will be arrested. MEETINGS A briefing for Sycamore Township residents whose homes were damaged will take place today at 9 a.m. at the Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy. 11525 Snider Road.

Mt ntgomery has scheduled a meeting for residents of the affected area at 9 a.m. today at St Barnabas Episcopal Church. 10345 Montgomery Road, where officials will explain procedures for going back into the Brenda Sklar just wanted to help. Like thousands of other residents, the 40-year-old Montgomery woman went without electricity Friday, but her home had no storm damage "It is surreal." said Ms. Sklar, who wore a towel over her head to keep dry when another storm swept through the morning skies.

"Half my community is gone. It was here last night, and it's gone now. It's amazing. "The rest of the world just doesn't realize. I was over in Cheviot this morning and they were looking at me like I was nuts." She later visited rescue workers at a makeshift shelter at Sycamore Junior High School and offered her home as temporary efuge for tornadvictims BANKS Several branches of the city's largest banks in the Blue Ash-Montgomery area hit by a tornado were closed most of Friday, primarily because a loss of power.

But most them were open by late in the day and expected to be open regular hours today. Branches operated by Provident and Firstar in the Harper's Point area are expected to remain closed today because of storm damage. Fifth Third, Firstar and Provident, which operate the most banks in Greater Cincinnati, said most of their branches in the affected area should be open today. Bankers also suggested that consumers could still get access to cash by using automated-teller machines or transferring funds from one account to another by telephone or getting online HOW TO HELP The Hoxworth Blood Center is in need of 0-positive, 0-negative and B-positive blood. "We are not making an emergency appeal, but we did have a lot of usage this week." Hoxworth spokeswoman Marsha Terry said Friday.

"Some of the blood has been used to help victims of the tornado, but for the most part we need it for just in case for some future unexpected crisis," she said. The Blue Ash office. 4310 Hunt Road, will be open today from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. The other offices are at: 2345 Ferguson Road.

Westwood. 7715 Five Mile Road. Anderson Township 3130 Highland Ave Clifton. 432 Walnut downtown. 280 Northland Tri-County.

2220 Grandview Drive, suite 140. Fort Mitchell. For information or the address of a center, call 451-0910 or 1-800-830-1091. i The Cincinnati EnqmrerSae.