While there were no confirmed tornadoes, a line of strong storms Thursday afternoon was enough to send people to their basements and bring down trees and electric wires throughout the northern part of Ashland County. It also was enough to rip a 40-foot hole through the Black River Education Center's roof and cause extensive damage to other parts of the school grounds after the storm hit about 4:15 p.m. "The clouds just looked like someone took a whisk to them," said Amber Johnson, a waitress on duty at C&M Country Cafe in Savannah. "And then it was gone."

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     A thunderstorm warning issued by the National Weather Service quickly turned to a tornado warning and emergency sirens went off throughout the county about 4:15 p.m. According to Capt. Terry Hamilton, the most damage occurred in the northern part of Ashland County. There were few reports of damage in the city. "We had quite a few trees down over wires that were (on) fire, which is not unusual," said Hamilton. "But it is unusual there were so many at once." By far, the worst damage was concentrated in the county´s farthest northeastern corner on the Black River Local Schools campus.
     Sullivan Township firefighter John Kenny was on his way home from work when the storm hit. "I just went straight to the station," he said. Kenny already had helped clear a tree in the roadway before responding to the a call at Black River schools. Damage at the schools was extensive, Kenny said, but no one spotted a funnel cloud in the area.
     There was extensive damage to the entire school grounds, including a gaping hole in the gymnasium on the south side of the combined elementary/middle school building. According to Black River officials, water was leaking into the gym area and additional roof damage was found on modular classrooms just behind the gymnasium. Damage also was extensive on the baseball and softball fields. A concrete dugout was completely leveled, and the other field's home-run fence took heavy damage. A light post in a parking lot near BREC was torn off its mounting.

     Supt. Janice Wyckoff said despite roof damage, with 19 days until the first day of school, getting kids back to class shouldn't be too difficult. "We have two and a half weeks or so and we´ve got a team of expert disaster cleaning people up here tarping things off," she said.
     Brothers Mike and Marty Terry were about the closest people to the Black River school grounds when the weather whipped through the area. Armed with chain saws and a four-wheeler, the two brothers were trying to cut a path into Marty Terry´s driveway, which had been blocked by downed trees. Winds were so strong that the bark of a hickory tree that fell in front of his garage was pulled off the tree trunk. "We hung around in the house. I couldn´t even see the trees in front," said Marty Terry. "I buttoned everything up and got the family into the basement."
     Elsewhere, Hamilton said there were several reports of furniture and swing sets blowing through neighborhoods, and a County Road 40 home was struck, but not damaged, by lightning. Several funnel clouds were reported but none confirmed, he said, including near Bailey Lakes, Ohio 302 and U.S. 42 and at the Ashland/Richland county line in Hanover Township. Cars were reported trapped by electric wires and trees in the Ohio 302/ Ohio 58 area and while several roads such as parts of Ohio 511, Township Road 1175 and County Road 40 were reported impassable following the storm, no county roads remained closed Thursday night. Mark Stoffer, county road superintendent, said there was no reported flooding. Just a little more than half an inch of rain fell in the city.
     Leigh Anne Holmes, a resident on County Road 1175 in Nankin, was left with a live wire laying across her pool and garage after the storm. "It was like I could see something come down. I could see the wind," said Holmes. "Limbs just were flying. They just started breaking off everywhere." Holmes´ yard was littered with tree limbs, the product of about five minutes of intense winds, the worst of which she said she´s ever seen.
     And while the Baker family´s yard, located off Ohio 58, was free of debris, their kids´ trampoline wasn´t as lucky. The trampoline, once situated next to the pool, was blown nearly 75 feet into the front yard. "I had to call and tell them they lost their trampoline," said Pat Baker, a mother of 8-year-old twins. "We´re calling it a total loss."
     The Mohican area seemed to dodge the bullet again from the worst of Thursday´s storm. A cell phone caller told police she saw funnel-like clouds near Mohican Hills Stables on South Mount Vernon Avenue. Beckie Conway, who works at Dollar General store on Ohio 3, not far from the stables, noted she, too, saw tornado-like swirls. "When we heard that there were warnings, we looked outside the store, and I saw two swirling clouds high above us," Conway said. "I knew it was a tornado, because it was just like clouds that I saw when I was much younger, that were confirmed as a tornado. These clouds, however, never touched down." Winds seemed to peak about 4:30 p.m., but then died down and were followed by heavy rain across the area a little after 5 p.m.
     Ohio Edison representative Kirk Gardner said as of 7:30 p.m. about 380 county residences were without power, including 300 in the city and others scattered in Jeromesville, Polk and Nankin. Those that weren't restored Thursday night, he said, should be by noon today.