PERRY TOWNSHIP, Ohio — Perry Township in Stark County was one of the hardest hit areas in Thursday’s powerful thunderstorms.
At one point, 4,000 homes throughout the county lost power because of downed power lines. Hundreds of customers are still waking up in the dark Friday morning.
FirstEnergy crews are working to restore power to those homes.
The damage is widespread. The winds uprooted a huge tree in front of a duplex on West 14th street, falling right in the middle of it. No one inside was hurt.
Joan of Arc Catholic school also had a tree fall right in the front yard just feet away from the actual school.
Amie Hall didn’t have damage to her home, but her neighbors did. She said it’s been awhile since a storm with so much power swept through the area.
“In 2004 we also had a very bad storm here. Right down the street there was an actual big Oak Tree that was picked up by a microburst and went down in the middle of the house. We had a large amount damage to our house and everyone in this area had a lot of damage,” she said.
She knows the clean up process will be tedious, but is thankful it’s nothing worse than that.
“Everyone is OK, no one got hurt. So as storms go, this is the best scenario that no one got hurt,” said Hall.
The National Weather Service is working to confirm if a tornado did touch down in the area.
