OAK HARBOR, Ohio — As the storm that created an EF-2 tornado in Point Place moved east, another EF-2 tornado touched down in Ottawa County Thursday evening.
The path of this tornado went right along Hetrick Road, damaging about a dozen homes and multiple barns.
Properties on the south side of the road seemed to take the most damage, initially. But then as the damage tracked west to east, it looks like things moved to the north side of Hetrick Road after Woodrick Road.
According to Ottawa County EMA Director Fred Peterson, there were no reported injuries from the tornado touching down in Ottawa County.
Many of the residents in the area said they were under the impression the strongest area of this storm was up north along the Lake Erie Shore.
"I paid attention and looked outside, and I looked around and the winds weren't quite right. So, I grabbed the dog and went downstairs," Renee Webb, whose home was moderately damaged but both barns destroyed, said. "My husband was upstairs and he heard the 'train whistle' and came running downstairs."
One of those properties hit was a dairy farm, where many of their cows were unaccounted for until about noon Friday.
The sister of the homeowner said her family could not have gotten through the chaos of last night without the support of their friends and neighbors.
"The whole road was lined with neighbors and farmers," Stacey Reau, of Fremont, said. "And that has what has made the most impact on us, just the help that we've received."
It took the dairy farm all night and most of the morning Friday to account for all of their lost cows.
"I was really worried about my aunt because I heard she was screaming and crying when she called people, so I wanted to make sure she was okay," Myra Huss, whose uncle owns the home at the dairy farm, said.
While family and friends dug out and began cleaning up their property, the streets became lined with parked cars as more and more people came out to lend a hand in recovering from the devastating event.
"I was really surprised," Huss said. "I wasn't expecting it because it's a road that not many people go down and I didn't expect many people to come and help."
Many people weren't even asked to help, Reau said. They just showed up.
"Nobody even made phone calls," she said. "They just knew that we were in need and the whole rural community showed up."