One year after deadly tornado struck, Ohio communities gather to remember
LOGAN COUNTY, Ohio (WCMH) — It has now been one year since a deadly tornado devasted neighborhoods around Indian Lake.
The EF3 tornado killed three people. It destroyed 239 homes and damaged more than 1500 properties and businesses, according to the United Way of Logan County. On Friday, the one year anniversary, community members, students and first responders gathered at Indian Lake High School for a 'Stronger than the Storm' breakfast.
'It is hard to believe. I look back on that night, that day, and it's like holy smokes. It was all overwhelming and progress has been made but yeah time gets by,' Logan County Sheriff Randall Dodds said.
Look: Your photos from 'worm moon' eclipse
On the rock out front of the high school sits the message, 'Anchored in Hope.' It's another saying people in the area have come to live by since the storm.
'It just speaks the truth. It's what we are. We will survive,' Dodds said. 'The tornado may have tore through the Indian lake community here but it didn't tear the spirit to survive and to live on.'
The Village of Lakeview was one of the areas hardest hit. Rick Stanley has lived there for more than 50 years. When the tornado hit, he huddled his family in a closet and did his best to protect them.
'That was the scariest night of our life right there. It was just beyond scary seeing it, hearing it, feeling it and then walking out and seeing the destruction,' Stanley said.
Remembering the deadly tornado outbreak in central Ohio one year ago
Some homes in his neighborhood have been rebuilt. Work is still happening on other properties, and some lots are now empty.
'Our main thing is just seeing everything, how everything is just so bare, just so weird to look at all this stuff. But everybody is getting something done. It's coming along slowly,' Stanley said. 'Everything is just coming along piece by piece. But it'll be rebuilt. We'll have it. We will get there.'
In addition to the breakfast, a remembrance event and tornado relief anniversary party were also held.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
How law enforcement plans to keep Pride Festival safe
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — The Stonewall Columbus Pride March and Festival returns this weekend, welcoming thousands of people downtown to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community. With police anticipating big crowds, Columbus Police Commander Scott Evers said safety is top of mind. 'We started planning for this event pretty much the day after, you know, it ended last year,' Evers said. 'From that, you know, we just kind of figure out what we can improve from last year.' How Granville, Grove City and Gahanna are celebrating Pride 2025 Evers said when it comes to planning, the main focus is allocating resources. He said the department works with federal and state partners and gathers feedback from other cities. 'Some of the things we change is just a lot of it's just logistics,' Evers said. 'You know, how we can situate personnel so they can, you know, be better able to respond to different areas.' Officers will be out patrolling the area on foot, horseback, bikes and cruisers. Attendees can also expect to see cameras throughout the Pride festival and parade route. 'If you see something, say something,' Evers said. 'Cameras obviously make it easier for people to see more things. It's a force multiplier.' Pride on High viewing area to benefit Columbus LGBTQ+ groups Pride Month comes amid rising political protests and tensions, and police are prepared for protests planned at the statehouse. 'We have dialogue officers that are here,' Evers said. 'They have existing relationships with all kinds of groups, as many groups as we can, and we focus on it is truly a relationship with a lot of groups, right? If people are protesting, I mean, it's their First Amendment right, and we are here to accommodate and welcome anybody that comes.' This year, with warmer temperatures forecast for the weekend, police said there will be more water available and they'll be communicating with event organizers should they have to make changes due to weather. 'We continuously evaluate every event, like I said, that happens here, nationally, internationally and we adjust plans,' Evers said. 'We adjust plans, or we don't adjust plans, just depending on it.' List: 2025 Pride Month events, festivals in central Ohio According to Columbus police, they have not received any credible threats to the Pride fest or protests this weekend. The Pride Festival will run from 4-10 p.m. on June 13 and 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on June 14 in Goodale Park, 120 W. Goodale St. The march will leave from the corner of Broad and High streets at 10:30 a.m. June 14. Participants will proceed north on High Street to the Buttles Avenue intersection. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Yahoo
Final full moon of Spring, the ‘Strawberry Moon,' glows over central Ohio
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – With clear skies settling into Central Ohio through the middle of the week, it has opened perfect viewing conditions for the latest full moon! Typically, the lunar cycle lines up with the twelve months of the year, giving each month it's own full moon. However, there are certain times of the year where an extra full moon happens – becoming a blue moon. Warmer weather building into Central Ohio, eyeing the weekend forecast June's full moon, whose name was made popular by the Farmer's Almanac, is the 'Strawberry Moon.' Each moon's nickname is given based on notable natural cycles. Names typically come from Native American or Colonial sources. The 'Strawberry Moon' isn't named because the moon takes on a reddish hue like the sweet berry. Instead, it takes the name because the full moon usually coincides with the time of strawberry season – when the berries are most ripe. This naming comes from Native American Algonquin tribes in Northeast America. June's full moon is also special because it signals the upcoming change in the seasons. The peak of the full moon happens fairly close to the Summer Solstice, marking the end of spring and the beginning of summer. While the 'Strawberry Moon' should look like a typical full moon in color, there are times that the moon can actually be reddish in hue. If the full moon sits lower on the horizon, it will take a more reddish color. The moons light has to travel through more of Earth's atmosphere, making the light look more red. Smoke, haze, and dust, along with a lunar eclipse, can also make the moon looker more red. The peak of the full moon was reached on June 11th at 3:46 AM. The next full moon will be in mid July, on the 10th. At 4:38 PM that evening, July's full moon, the 'Buck Moon,' will reach it's peak. Did you see the Strawberry Moon Wednesday morning? Share your photos with NBC4 here: To learn more about the Strawberry Moon, visit Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Yahoo
Why central Ohio is seeing fewer tornadoes in 2025 than a year ago
COLUMBUS (WCMH) — After an active early spring, no tornadoes were reported in Ohio during May, which has only happened seven times in the past 30 years. The drop-off was related to a southward shift of the jet stream, with storms focused across the southern half of the country. Severe storms capable of producing a tornado require heat and moisture (fuel), in addition to a strong jet stream in the vicinity. Columbus had a 16-day stretch of below-normal temperatures in late May through June 2. All but four of the tornadoes in Ohio this year have been relatively weak EF0 events, and only one touched down in central Ohio–an EF0 tornado (85 mph winds) near Obetz that tracked 2.6 miles on the night of March 30. Last year, a record 74 tornadoes were confirmed in Ohio, including 23 storms in May. After five tornadoes touched down on June 5, 2024, in eastern Ohio, the 1992 record for a single year (62) was already equaled. The average number of tornadoes in an entire year in the Buckeye State is 22. Multiple tornado outbreaks impacted central Ohio in 2024, beginning on Feb. 28 and continuing through the spring, before a summer drought curtailed the storm threat. The calendar year was the warmest on record in Ohio, and in Columbus (57.3 degrees), with city records back to 1879. May averages more tornadoes than any other month in Ohio and the U.S., because of the frequent clash of cool, dry Canadian air and summerlike heat and humidity drawn northward by southerly winds from the Gulf. The other essential ingredient for rotating storms is wind shear — winds shifting direction with height — which causes the air to spin within strong updrafts. Nationally, 328 tornadoes were reported in May, fewer than in April (358), and comparable to a very active March (300), based on preliminary reports from the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla. Through the end of May, Missouri and Illinois recorded 105 tornadoes, second only to Texas (109). A total of 1,042 preliminary unfiltered tornado reports were logged as of May 31 in the U.S., with final assessments often taking many months to complete, to remove duplicates of the same event. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
