XENIA — Greene County was hit hard by a storm early Wednesday morning with significant damage around Yellow Springs and Cedarville and one confirmed tornado.
According to Greene County Sheriff Scott Anger, two tornadoes were believed to have touched down just to the north of Greene County. These storms caused severe wind damage to areas of northern Greene County all the way down into Xenia.
The first tornado warning was issued for northern Greene County at 4:33 a.m. with locations impacted including Beavercreek, Clifton, Fairborn, Wilberforce, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Xenia, and Yellow Springs. That storm was located over Oakwood in Montgomery County and was moving east at 40 miles per hour, according to the National Weather Service.
The second tornado warning was issued for northeastern Greene County at 4:54 a.m. and included Cedarville. The storm was located near Springfield in Clark County, moving east at 45 miles per hour.
Early Wednesday afternoon, the National Weather Service confirmed a tornado occurred in the Riverside area in Montgomery County and continued into Greene County before weakening. Additional information, including exact location, was expected sometime Wednesday evening.
“We had some down wires in Cedarville, and Yellow Springs was without power for awhile there,” said Anger. “We had many large trees that fell in roadways and state routes.”
Anger also said he had reports of trees falling onto houses, and structural damage in both Yellow Springs and Cedarville.
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base was also hit with flying debris that forced gate 22B to close while the area was cleared.
“Our initial assessment from this morning’s storm is the damage is isolated to the southern side of Area B. Our initial focus right now is on safety and damage assessment,” said Col. Travis Pond, 88th Air Base Wing and installation commander. “I can’t speak highly enough about our security forces, fire department and civil engineer airmen for their quick response and hard work to assess damage and determine a path forward for restoring operations as quickly as possible.”
Gate 22B was reopened before 11 a.m. Wednesday morning.
Anger said he and the rescue team were prepared for possible damage to Greene County, and were assessing roadways and structural damage immediately after the storm passed through, which he estimated to be between 4-5 a.m.
“We knew that overnight there was going to be some very bad storms coming through that had the potential for damage,” he said. “We were just very fortunate that we were able to get through it without any injuries, although there was a lot of property damage.”
Damages are still being assessed, but so far no injuries have been reported due to the storm. The National Weather Service was set to survey several places in the area.
Contact Ethan Charles at 937-502-4532
