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Severe weather, one confirmed tornado cause damages but no injuries

Structural damage is reported to a barn and poles and power lines are down in Henry County.
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As of 5 p.m., all tornado warnings had expired for several Ohio counties that were affected by strong spring storms. 

A confirmed tornado did touch down in Henry County earlier Wednesday afternoon, causing damage. 

At one point in the afternoon, tornado warnings had been issued for Hancock, Ottawa, Sandusky, Wood and Crawford counties.  

Damage was reported in Henry County, where a barn had a roof ripped off. 

Severe thunderstorm watches remained in effect, however, until about 9 p.m. 

A flash flood warning is in effect for Wood and Ottawa counties after reports of 2 inches of rain on saturated grounds.

"It's just kind of that gut feeling like 'oh man, not again' this happened in 2013, so it's not the first time," Farmer Nick Rettig said.

Rettig's barn is the only place that damage is reported from the Tornado along 65 in Henry County.

"I heard at work from a text message that half my barn was blown across the road," Rettig said.

By the time WTOL crews got there, he was already helping ODOT crews clear the road in front and in his own yard so he can rebuild. 

Jordan Valez was at work right down the road when the storm hit. 

"It sounded like a roller coaster maybe," Velez said.

He took video showing the exact moment when the roof was ripped off of Rettig's barn.

"We had came out to the road to get a better view and traffic just kept going, we were kind of amazed that no one was really stopping," Velez said.

This is the second tornado in just over a week for Gavin Winters who witnessed the tornado with co-worker Velez.

"I was in Dayton on Memorial Day and I was just leaving when both tornadoes hit," Winters said.

As for Rettig, he can only laugh when realizing his property was impacted by the tornado.

"I'm going to go buy a lottery ticket tonight, so we'll see how that works," Rettig said.

Credit: Joe Weaver
This is from the site of the first tornado report, in Henry County on Route 65 about a mile from Ohio 281. A sheriff's deputy told him this is the only damage he was aware of.

Damage has been confirmed after an earlier tornado touched down when strong spring storms popped up around Wood, Henry and part of Sandusky counties on Wednesday.   

Credit: Nick Elchinger
A funnel cloud is seen in Henry County

At 2:39 p.m., a confirmed tornado was located near Weston, or 10 miles southwest of Bowling Green, moving east at 25 mph, according to the NWS.  

The Henry County EMA confirmed damage around the same time and eyewitnesses reported damage from the storm in southern Wood County. 

Structural damage is reported to a barn in McClure and poles and power lines are down. 

The director for Wood County EMA reports no damage in Wood County so far, however, Wood County EMA got a call from Henry County where two witnesses spotted a tornado touch down and hit a building. This was in the area of Ohio 281 and 65. 

No injuries were reported.

The Henry County emergency manager reports that a tornado at 2:10 p.m. caused structural damage to a barn near Grelton and downed power lines and sent poles down across a road. 

The tornado was seen by emergency management and law enforcement.

Several reports of power outages also were made. As of 3:10 p.m., Wood County reported six outages, while Henry County had 34 outages. Outages were expected to be restored by 5 p.m.

Credit: Nick Elchinger
A funnel cloud is seen in Henry County
Credit: Greg Laplante
Storm seen rolling in at Clay Center, looking south.
Credit: Deb Moser
Clouds seen a couple miles north of Deshler.

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