REEDSVILLE, W.Va. — Preston County businesses around the Reedsville area are working to return to normal business operations after an EFO tornado struck late Wednesday afternoon.
Hovatter’s Zoo owner Bryan Hovatter said thankfully no animals were seriously injured but downed trees caused damage to trailers and fences around the property.
“We had some trees that fell on trailers, crushed trailers, but every tree that landed missed everything (major) other than some fence,” Hovatter said. “Nothing on any of our big dangerous animals or anything like that.”
Hovatter and his son noticed the storm at about 3 p.m. He said it looked like a funnel cloud. He said there was hail and wind hurled debris hundreds of feet in the air. By the time the dust settled, the remains of torn-up trees and damaged trailers were noticed immediately.
“We walked around the corner, there was a rotation because it was sucking debris straight into the air right in front of me and my son, around 400 or 500 feet in the air,” he said. “By then, it had already clipped all the trees coming through the zoo and knocked several trees down.”
Officials with Hovatter’s Zoo stated after the interview that the National Weather Service confirmed that an EFO tornado officially hit the area on Wednesday with winds peaking at 85 miles per hour. Data was submitted by Preston County Emergency Management.
Hovatter said recovery efforts took place within hours after the storm left the area, with Mon Power restoring services before the sun set Wednesday evening. Members of the community also took time to volunteer and help with cleanups that avoided any long-term closure for the property. Zoo officials also checked on every animal on-site and found no injuries despite the dangerous storm.
“With the power lines down, there were power outages, but Mon Power jumped on that really quickly for us because it’s right in the middle of tour season for schools,” said Hovatter. “We had neighbors, people I don’t even know, showed up, and there were probably thirty people here last night.”
Hovatter’s Zoo officially returned to normal operations on Thursday, with school tours taking place less than 24 hours after cleanup began. Smokin’ Jacks, a restaurant in the Reedsville area, also reported damage that has prompted a temporary closure of the business. For Hovatter, he expressed appreciation to the people who helped their business return to normal operations less than a day after a possible tornado hit the area.
“We got everything cleaned up and opened up to where we could operate today, we actually run schools through today,” said Hovatter. “So we’re back to normal, we just got some mess to clean up.”