The National Weather Service confirmed that two new tornadoes touched down in Northeast Ohio early Friday morning. Bringing the total tornado count from Thursday night and Friday morning's storms to eight.
Warrensville Heights
An EF2 tornado downed trees, telephone poles, and utility lines in Warrensville Heights.
Chardon
An EF1 tornado in Chardon, which recorded 110 mph winds, damaged trees and property.
When the tornado tore its path through town, resident Marilyn Harmon said it sounded like two freight trains had collided.
"I knew something bigger than a dream or a nightmare took place," she said.
After the storm, her yard was littered with tree branches that were twisted and snapped off.
She feels lucky she wasn't hurt by the storm that shook her house and awoke her.
"You're getting all revved thinking, 'I lived!' Does that mean you go to sleep, or do you sit there and drink coffee?" she said. "I went back to sleep."
Cleveland
A third tornado, an EF1, touched down in the City of Cleveland just before midnight Thursday. The tornado was on the ground for three minutes. It was the first tornado to touch down inside city limits since 1950.
The tornado tore off a substantial section of the roof at New Life at Calvary Church, a 143-year-old church located at the corner of 79th Street and Euclid Avenue.
"It's overwhelming to see... the roof is gone," Pastor Kellie Sullivan said. "You can see the sky. You can hear the birds chirping. You can hear the traffic.'
Repair crews hauled away twisted metal, wood, and other debris left behind Saturday.
"I feel like I'm in a movie," she said. "I'm seeing destruction right here in a sacred space, a holy space, our children's space, so I'm in a state of disbelief."
The church's nursery is below the area where the roof was ripped off by the tornado.
Sullivan said described the damage as "catastrophic" and "severe." She said it's unclear what it will take to repair the Romanesque stone church.
"It's going to take a lot," she said. "Right now, they are in the stabilizing phase, getting our building stable because the wall on the outer side, they're not sure how stable it is right now, and so stabilizing and also preventing the water from getting in."
She said repair crews will also tarp the exposed areas to prevent additional water damage.
Despite the damage and mourning their loss, church members still managed to cook and feed community members Friday night.
"It's like the building took the pain, the suffering, the hurt," she said. "But it didn't hurt us as people."
She plans to hold a special service in the church's parking lot tomorrow at 10 a.m.
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