3 dead in Ohio after storms, tornadoes tear through Midwest and South
Three people are dead from a powerful EF3 tornado in Lakeview, Ohio, after storms and twisters ripped through the Midwest and the South this week, according to officials.
Responders in Lakeview have completed grid searches for potential victims and everyone has been accounted for, officials said Friday afternoon. Lakeview is about 70 miles northwest of Columbus.
At least 21 tornadoes were confirmed to have touched down on Wednesday and Thursday across seven states: Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Illinois, Arkansas, Missouri and Texas.
The EF-3 tornado in Logan County, Ohio, generated peak winds estimated to have been at least 136 mph.
A tornado in eastern Indiana had the strongest wind speed rating. High-end EF-3 damage was found by storm survey teams in a localized portion of Winchester, Indiana. In that area, at least two anchored buildings were destroyed, indicating winds of 155-165 mph in that violent tornado.
In Winchester, the reported tornadoes left 38 people injured, including 12 people who were taken to hospitals, Mayor Bob McCoy said at a news conference Friday.
McCoy said they were "very lucky" no fatalities were reported.
"There are houses that are leveled," he said. "It could’ve been really bad."
Twenty-two homes were "possibly totally destroyed" and 110 houses are "badly damaged," McCoy said.
Winchester is about 85 miles northeast of Indianapolis.
In Selma, Indiana, nearly half of the town's structures have been damaged, according to the Delaware County Emergency Management Agency.
While the Indiana State Police said earlier there had been at least three fatalities in the state, at a press conference early Friday morning, Indiana State Police Superintendent Doug Carter said the information was not correct and no fatalities had been confirmed.
