Gabriel whips through a whirlwind of tornado history in our state. He begins with an explanation of the Enhanced Fujita Scale and then shares about tornadoes that hit Newton Falls and Xenia.
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[Gabriel] All right, let's whip through this one. Our state has a whirlwind of history with tornadoes, including a couple of EF5s.
The EF, or Enhanced Fujita scale, rates tornadoes based on their wind speed. At the bottom of the scale, an EF0 tornado has winds up to 85 miles per hour, while the highest-rated EF5 can be more than 200 miles per hour.
Since 1950, Ohio has had only four tornadoes reach that strength. The most recent was in May of 1985 in Portage and Trumbull counties. Eleven tornadoes formed in the state that day, one of them being a massive EF5. It traveled for 47 miles from Eastern Ohio into Western Pennsylvania with estimated wind speeds of up to 300 miles per hour.
In Newton Falls, brave storm spotters on the roof of City Hall saw it approaching and were able to sound a siren. Even though the warning only gave folks a minute to prepare, it saved many lives, including 150 nearby bingo players. The storm was so powerful, bowling balls were found a block away from a demolished bowling alley, and documents from City Hall were blown all the way to New York.
Eleven years earlier, Ohio found itself in the middle of what became known as Super Outbreak, an 18-hour period where 148 tornadoes were documented in 13 states. An EF5 formed in Green County, coming down particularly hard on the southwestern city of Xenia. This destruction would be compared to World War II, so yeah, it was pretty bad. The tornado's half-mile-wide path left half of the buildings in the city damaged or even destroyed. It even blew a school bus into Xenia High School's stage.
President Richard Nixon visited the site, declaring it a federal disaster area and calling it the worst disaster he's ever seen. Still, the city persevered. Just days after, cars were seen with bumper stickers reading, Xenia Lives. One year later, 80% of homes and 40% of businesses had been rebuilt.
Though powerful, EF5s are still very rare, and technology nowadays makes it much easier for us to prepare, so you've got a lot of time to hunker down when a twister does come to town.
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