ST. MARYS, W.Va. — While central counties of West Virginia were dealing with torrential rain which caused catastrophic flood, it was storms of a different kind which struck on either end of the state. Observers believe tornadoes were responsible for damages in Pleasants, Ritchie, and Pendleton Counties.
The National Weather Service’s Charleston office confirmed that two tornadoes occurred Tuesday, both beginning in Washington County, Ohio. The tornadoes moved east into Pleasants County, and one of the storms continued into Doddridge County. The NWS said it will conduct more surveys Thursday in Barbour and Lewis counties.
“It almost looks like there were two different paths from the damage up here,” said Scott Northcutt in St. Marys. “One was along Green’s Run Road and then it kind of looks like there was another path coming up and through the woods.”
Northcutt is a co-owner of MetroNews Affiliate Radio Station WRRR in St. Mary’s. The station’s transmission tower was leveled by the storm around 8 p.m. Tuesday.
“It’s completely on the ground and mangled as is the cell phone tower across the road. A lot of houses on Green’s Run Road are damaged, including former Senator Donna Boley’s house,” he explained.
Sgt. Kirby Seese of the Pleasants County Sheriff’s Department actually watched the storm from a distance.
“I was sitting on Route 2 facing south and I could see it blowing over from the Ohio side. I knew then we were going to get hit pretty hard. About 15 seconds after that the power went out and that’s when the chaos broke loose,” he said.
The storm left a path of twisted and uprooted trees and tore a sign off the bridge spanning the Ohio River between St. Mary’s and Northport, Ohio. South of St. Mary’s in the community of Belmont, winds caused heavy damage to Wright’s Riverside Marine as well as other nearby homes and businesses. At least two campers were overturned in a campground along the river in that community.
During the height of the storm there were reports of damage in Ritchie County which will be investigated as a tornado.
In Pendleton County, Emergency Services Director Rick Gillespie said there are strong indications of a tornado touchdown in the eastern half of the county between Franklin and the Virginia border.
“Within minutes of the National Weather Service releasing a tornado warning in our area, we did get reports of numerous trees down. It was a swath about six miles long,” he explained.
The most serious incident for Pendleton County occurred when a man and his one year old daughter got in a vehicle and went looking for his wife who had gone for a run. They spotted her, but just in time for her to have a front row seat to a scary situation.
“As he approached her while she was still on foot, mayhem broke loose. A large tree fell across the hood of the vehicle and another directly behind it. They are extremely fortunate to have escaped without any injuries,” said Gillespie.
The driver indicated he saw rotational winds and NWS radar also indicated winds indicative of a tornado. The National Weather Service will send inspectors to all areas where it’s suspected a tornado touched down to inspect damage and make a determination on whether it was a tornado and where it ranked on the Fujita scale.