Severe storms on Tuesday cause extensive damage across central Ohio

[00:00:00]Yeah, 10TV's Kevin Landers is live at a church in Newark that was damaged in the storm. Kevin, was anyone hurt?

[00:00:08]>> Nobody was hurt, thankfully. You know, it really looks like a bomb went off outside the church triumphant here in Newark. Just take a look. The roof is gone. What witnesses say was a tornado picked it up and basically left it here in the middle of Madison Avenue in Newark. And you Right now, the cleanup is going on. In matter of fact, here's a just a piece of the gutter from the church that was ripped off. You know, we spoke to the pastor as we were first on scene and I asked him what was going through his mind as he noticed his building was suddenly just gone with the roof taken off.

[00:00:41]>> You can't get inside because the the wires are down on the back and the whole back parking lot is full of debris from the trees that have fallen. So, you can't even go in the building at all at this point.

[00:00:54]>> And we were told that this is not just a church, but it also serves as a home schooling center. Uh about 150 kids rely on this building uh to go to school. The school starts, I believe, in August 25th, according to the director. They're looking for a building right now to put these kids in so they have a place to go in the fall. Again, the cleanup is massive out here. We're told there's a lot of water damage because not only did the tornado come through, but there was a heavy rainstorm that also dumped water inside the church. Reporting live in Newark, Kevin Landers, 10TV News.

[00:01:24]>> All right, thank you, Kevin. Ooh, what a mess out there. Our live team coverage continues tonight with 10TV's Libby Casey.

[00:01:30]>> Yeah, I got a couple of spots here hit hard. She's also live in Newark. A tree fell on a State Farm Insurance Agency office. Libby, the irony there.

[00:01:42]>> That's right, Jeff Yolanda. And this insurance agent, Aaron Curtis, tell me it tells me the irony is not lost on her. She tells clients all the time to have a plan and that one already in place for her here. Now, you can see crews are already wrapping up their cleanup. They have the debris organized into various piles here. You can see these bricks came all the way down from this chimney up there. Also, there was a hole in the roof. Aaron Curtis, that State Farm agent, tells me she was watching this storm come in. Her team told her branches were coming down, falling past these windows you see.

[00:02:17]That's when her team said, "Let's head downstairs." She said within 30 to 45 seconds after that, a tree came crashing down on this building here, crushing, piercing through the roof where her office is. Her desk is in shambles now, she says. [music] But, that cleanup process already underway here. You can see they're wrapping up. Have at least three more houses to [music] get to, this crew tells me. But, they have got all that debris there in the wood chipper, and they're going to go on to their next home. But, here Aaron Curtis says they're going to be working from home for at least a few days while they're helping their clients deal with similar claims. I asked her what it sounded like and what it felt like [music] as that storm came in. Here's what she had to say.

[00:03:01]>> It really just sounded like a freight train. I can't think of a different way to describe what that sound. It was very quick, um but it was very loud. We we could feel it through our bones.

[00:03:14]>> And thankfully, Jeff, Yolanda, like where Kevin is, no one was hurt here.

[00:03:19]But again, Aaron Curtis says the practices that she's telling clients every day, she is putting into practice here today. Reporting live in New York, Libby Casey, 10TV News.

[00:03:29]>> All right, thank you, Libby. Thank you very much. And you know, Jeff, it's interesting, nothing has been confirmed by the National Weather Service at this point, but you have one man who says he saw it, you have uh Libby's uh insurance uh interview there saying she heard a freight train. Sounded like a freight train, and that's what people say they hear when a tornado is coming.

[00:03:45]>> It's straight-line winds, EF whatever tornado. They'll determine that tomorrow, but it doesn't matter. It doesn't change the damage there for these people.

[00:03:52]Yeah.