OAK HARBOR, Ohio — A month later, News 5 is following through on the nine tornadoes that tore across Northern Ohio on June 15 from Toledo to southwest Ashland County. While they weren’t the biggest tornadoes, they sure did a big amount of damage.
“There's always breeze blowing,” said Victor Harder.
The gusty winds Tuesday reminded 89-year-old Oak Harbor resident Harder of June 15.
“It was, it was terrible,” said Harder.
That’s when an EF-2 tornado hit and took everything from him.
“We were sitting in this chair, and we got right here, this is as far as we could get when we heard all the noise,” said Harder.
His home of 65 years is a total loss.
“When I walked up in the kitchen and looked right up in the sky, the roof was all gone,” Harder added. “The roof was off the rest of the house when we got all outside.”
Harder is now in a waiting game between insurance and contractors, which his neighbors, like the Webbs, are also dealing with.
“It's always something you hear about happening to other people,” said Renee Webb.
We visited the Webbs as they cleaned up the aftermath of the tornado a month ago. Their home didn't have any structural damage, but their metal and wooden barns were total losses.
“Maybe sell the rest of the beams at some point. We will probably just make the barn grass,” said Webb. “There's no rebuilding this, not like this.”
Ottawa County EMA said 35 families were impacted by the tornado outbreak, and dozens of homes and other buildings were seriously damaged. But as cleanup continues in Oak Harbor a month later, the resident's resiliency continues to ring.
“We hope to put another ranch-type home so, only this time, I'm going to put a basement in if something like this happens again,” said Harder.
