MILLERSBURG, Ohio — Severe storms with straight line winds uprooted trees, smashed cars, and took away power to more than 150,000 people last week.
At the time, radar estimated those straight-line winds were anywhere from 70 to more than 90 mph, with damage stretching across Wayne, Holmes and Tuscarawas counties.
PHOTOS: Wicked winds toppled trees during overnight storms
A spokesperson with AEP Ohio told News 5 for example, 13,200 customers were without power in the Wooster area by 9 a.m. on June 14th. Over the next week, crews worked to repair lines and by June 20th, restoration of power wrapped up in Wooster.
At Skyview Ranch Christian Camp, power was restored to the camp, in parts, earlier this week after hundreds of their trees came down during the storm.
“We had trees crush cars, go through the roofs of some of our homes, just a lot of shingles and siding all throughout camp,” executive director Jonathan Casbohm said.
Casbohm described to News 5 how his team has worked to keep the camp open for the summer, while only being closed for a few days last week.
“Our driveway alone, we had 50-100 trees [toppled]," he explained. “Just to be able to get off camp, we had a lot to clear.”
Casbohm said plenty of work remains to be done, specifically at damaged roofs for several buildings, and removing more toppled trees.
Just down the road is Tonn’s Honey, which lost the roof to its warehouse in the storm.
News 5 documented how volunteers helped rebuild the roof the very next day. However inside the warehouse and retail store, plenty of restoration work continues.
“It’s been pretty hectic,” owner Phillip Beachy said. “There was water dripping through the ceiling, there was water on the floor here and everything needed to be taken out.”
Beachy said it’s still not clear when the retail shop will reopen, but the online store is accepting orders and he hopes to resume wholesale production of his honey next week.
“It’s like putting all the puzzles of a jigsaw back together and we’re getting there,” he added.
What started as a mountain of problems after the storm for many still exists today, but as many explained, perhaps the view forward looks less daunting with a little help.
“Without friends, this would be a project too big for me,” Beachy said. “Make all the friends you can because you never know when you might need help and don’t quit. Don’t give up.”
“It really was a community effort, and it still is to get the place cleaned up,” Casbohm said.
