LAKEVIEW, Ohio (AP) — Residents of a region of Central America hit by a deadly hurricane spent Saturday cleaning up, assessing damage and helping neighbors. But it will be a long recovery from the storms that swept through parts of Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana and Arkansas.
Storms Thursday night Three lives were lost One of the hardest-hit areas was the Indian Lake area of Logan County, Ohio, and an Indiana community where about 40 people were injured and dozens of homes were damaged. Tornadoes were also reported in Illinois and Missouri.
Samantha Snipes, 33, said when she first heard the tornado warning, she called her father, who lives seven minutes away, to take cover. He told The Associated Press that he was trying to get into a closet in his childhood home and then the phone was cut off.
She and her husband tried to reach him by driving on the main road but could not and had to take a back route after the cyclone passed.
“It was out of a movie like 'Twister,'” he said. “My dad's garage was leveled. The back of his house is gone. It's like everything's gone.”
They clambered over everything screaming for him. When they found him, he was unhurt and told him to stop crying, she said.
Her father, Joe Baker, told his children to hide in the closet in case a tornado ever hit.
“We grew up here. It's our childhood home,” said Snipes, who spent Saturday throwing things away and figuring out what could be saved. “You see it on the news. But you never imagine it happening to you.
Steve Wills, a pastor who owns a vacation home on Orchard Island, said Saturday he had a family crew clean up and patch up a hole in the roof.
“We grieve for the families who lost their lives. There are three deaths in our society. You know, it breaks our hearts,” Wills said. “But it could have been more, it could have been more. Yeah, so I still have hope.
The community was really helpful, Snipes said.
The school superintendent was dropping off food, clothes and diapers on Friday. The night of the tornado, neighbors on her dad's street were going door-to-door stopping for gas, she said.
“Everyone who travels on this road is safe. You know neighbors helping neighbors,” Snipes said.
