This camper near Orchard Island, at the southern edge of Indian Lake in Logan County, was hit by nearby vehicles and toppled over when a tornado passed through the area Thursday night. The camper belonged to Union County resident Douglas Robinson who said no one was hurt when the storm went through just before 8 p.m.
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Strong storms that produced an EF2 tornado pushed this trailer off its foundation Thursday night between Russells Point and Orchard Island. While the trailer, owned by Union County resident Roy Heflin, was occupied at the time of the incident, the occupant was not hurt.
(Photo submitted)
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A tornado that damaged several homes and businesses along the southern part of Indian Lake Thursday night ripped the roof and pieces of siding off this cottage in Lakeview, owned by the Liggett family. The owners, who live in Union County, were not hurt.
(Photo submitted)
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Union County residents with property at Indian Lake are planning their next steps after a severe storm passed through northern Logan County, destroying homes and leaving a trail of debris.
On Thursday night, the National Weather Service issued a tornado warning for central Logan and northwestern Union counties. One alert noted that at 7:50 p.m., “a large and extremely dangerous tornado was located near Russells Point, moving east at 40 mph.”
Just before that, the storm approached the small village of Lakeview on the western edge of Indian Lake where it tore through the community including a neighborhood off Oak Street. That’s where Rachel Liggett and her family has a cottage.
Liggett said the family wasn’t at the home when the weather arrived but watched video of it approaching Thursday evening.
“We were in Marysville at the time and watching our security cameras. We watched it for a little while until the cameras went down,” she said.
At that point, she started texting with neighbors nearby to get an idea of what was going on. While friends and neighbors reported back that the weather was severe and causing damage, it wasn’t until she arrived in town early Friday that the scope was clearer.
“Basically, it looks like a war zone,” Liggett said, of the area. “Our entire roof is gone. Most of the siding is gone or chipped and there’s a lot of broken windows. Trees are missing branches.”
She said all the fencing around the property is knocked down and that mirrors what happened to houses close by.
“Our neighbors have whole walls missing. Everything is down. Power lines are down, the power is still out,” Liggett said Friday afternoon.
She said one of the most jarring images of damage was a chunk of debris that apparently crashed through one part of the house, in the bedroom “right where my head would lay,” she said.
Liggett added they’ve had the cottage since 2008 but now aren’t sure what the future of the home will be.
“Right now, we’re waiting to hear back from the insurance company,” she said. “This is just me, but I wouldn’t want to rebuild. There’s just a lot of damage.”
Despite the disheartening state of the family’s cottage, she said the community response has been very positive.
“Property can be replaced but people can’t. In that way we’re lucky,” Liggett said. “It’s unfortunate but it has the community really coming together.”
Roy Heflin, who lives on Route 736 north of Plain City, owns a trailer just north of Russells Point on Orchard Island.
Heflin said he had a friend staying in the trailer when the storm went through, who witnessed the trailer get “pretty badly damaged.”
“I have a friend, Ralph Brown, staying up there helping do some work and clean up for spring. He was inside the trailer when it started, when everything picked up,” Heflin said. “He was pretty terrified. I was talking to him on the phone and he just said, ‘Roy, your house is moving.’”
Heflin’s trailer is on Orchard Island Road, which connects Russells Point to the island, near the Spend-A-Day Marina, a business that was also damaged and closed Friday for assessment.
Heflin said his friend was watching the news and got the alerts that the storm was heading east.
“He was going to hunker down and then said he felt the whole place moving,” Heflin said. “He wasn’t hurt, thankfully, but the damage was bad, really bad.”
Heflin said in addition to debris crashing through one wall, the entire trailer was shoved four feet off its foundation by strong winds.
“It just moved the whole thing. And it wasn’t just us. It damaged trailers nearby, our neighbors, some that are out of town,” he said. “There’s just debris all over.”
Not far from Heflin’s trailer was Marysville resident Douglas Robinson’s camper, also near the Spend-A-Day Marina. He said a larger vehicle smashed his camper but he’s thankful no one was hurt.
“We’re extremely fortunate,” he said. “Other people aren’t so lucky and for some of these people, it’s their permanent home that got damaged.”
Robinson wasn’t at Indian Lake at the time but said he was told his camper, which is parked in a spot next to larger, five-wheeled vehicles, was toppled over.
“It’s a lot, just the power and to see what it did. Houses are damaged, trees are stripped and there was one camper wrapped around a tree,” he said. “What’s amazing is you walk outside of the path of the damage and there’s nothing. But inside it, stuff’s just destroyed. But, things can be replaced.”