By Kim Gasuras
CRESTLINE – Vickie Frazee arrived at her home on Ohio 598 Tuesday morning to find it destroyed. Vickie said her father built the home in 1957 when she was two years old.
“We were placing the septic system and making many other repairs,” said Vickie as she sobbed in her husband, Bill’s arms.
The couple’s adult son, Chris, said his parents do not have homeowners insurance.
“We have lost everything,” Chris said as he fought back tears.
Chris said he was home with his dad when a tornado ripped through their ranch-style home.
“It lifted us up to the ceiling, then dropped us back down to the floor,” Chris said.
The house was lifted off its foundation and sat back down, cock-eyed to the road.
The Frazee’s neighbor, Gerri Payne, said she was making a strawberry pie when she received a flash flood alert on her phone.
“I just thought I was going to have to stay up until 4:30 a.m. when the flood watch ended to see if we got any water. A few minutes later, the rain stopped and I thought that was a quick storm,” Payne said.
Payne’s boyfriend, Tim Jacobs, told Payne that might not be a good sign. The couple then heard a roaring sound like a freight train.
“I knew we had to get to the basement,” Payne said.
A few minutes later, Payne said she and Jacobs came upstairs from the basement.
“I opened the door to the garage and there was no garage,” said Payne.
Payne said there is water and roof damage also to her one-story home.
“The insurance guy is here and has made me feel a little better,” said Payne, who operates a massage therapy business from her home.
On Krichbaum Road, Justin Smith and his friends worked to clean up debris from a barn on the property that is now missing a roof.
“It was scary last night. I went to the basement,” Smith said.
Crawford County Sheriff Scott Kent was at Smith’s residence to survey damage.
“We are still evaluating to determine if it was a tornado,” Kent said.
About an hour later, the National Weather Service office in Cleveland determined that a tornado did in fact touch down in Crawford and Richland Counties.
On Ohio 61, Joe Zara looked over damage to a truck he owns at his business, Central Ohio Plumbing and Heating.
“It was definitely a tornado that did this,” Zara said as he pointed to the truck that is now on its side.
Roofers were already hard at work to replace the roof of Zara’s business.
In North Robinson, neighbors were outside helping each other as the clean-up process got underway from the storm.
“It blew our sliding glass door out, came right through the house, and out the front window,” said Gary Agin.
Gary’s wife, Wendy, said she is grateful no one was injured.
Behind the Agin’s house, Carl Watts looked over the destroyed garage he had just finished building approximately two months ago.
“I was watching TV and we heard a noise and went to the basement,” Watts said. “It was a 50-by-50-foot garage. It is completely destroyed.”
Fifteen-year-old Maci Risner and her sister, 13-year-old Kaylyn, did not have school at Colonel Crawford on Tuesday.
“The power is out at the school,” Maci said.
The girls were helping neighbors clean up the massive amount of debris throughout north side of the village, just blocks from the school campus.
“On the south side of the tracks, there is no damage at all. There is a path that you can see of destruction,” said Maci.
AEP and other electric supplier trucks were out in full force throughout the entire area as technicians worked to restore power.