Investigators in Richland County confirmed Monday that a tornado damaged several homes and businesses.Videos posted on social media showed a funnel cloud touching down.
The Richland County Emergency Management Agency reported about a half-dozen homes were damaged and at least six people were taken to a hospital to be treated for storm-related injuries.
The city of Shelby took the brunt of the damage. In a Facebook post late Sunday night, Shelby Police Chief Lance Combs wrote he’d received complaints about the city’s severe weather sirens not being activated in time to warn people.
“The alert we received today was general to Richland County and not specific to the Shelby area,” Combs wrote. “Within a very short time, the department received a report of an active tornado near or on SR39 and the working supervisor activated the alert sirens. That did occur before the tornado caused the damage across 39. If the sirens were not activated soon enough, I take the blame.”
The same storm system that spawned the suspected tornado also led to the partial collapse of two buildings and broke several windows in south Columbus. No injuries were reported.
Another possible tornado swept through part of Clark County in western Ohio, damaging some mobile homes.
