BY JULIE RALSTON
The Cincinnati Enquirer

EAST SIDE: Mariemont residents Randy York and Kevin Hassey, along with some children, look at damage on Wooster Pike. (Glenn Hartong photo) | ZOOM |

Tornadoes, winds that gusted at 70 mph, torrential rains and dramatic lightning strikes left as many as 30,000 Greater Cincinnati homes without power Sunday, blocked roads and left many scrambling for shelter in basements.

Streets throughout the Tristate were closed as the storm downed trees and caused flash flooding in some areas. No major damage was reported.

There were dozens of unconfirmed reports of tornadoes, including reported touchdowns in Cheviot and Adams County in Ohio.

The unconfirmed tornado in Adams County was blamed for a heavily damaged garage about 1 1/2 miles north of West Union. There were no injuries.

"There were a ton of trees down," said Ryan Sandler, meteorologist for the National Weather Service. "And Lunken Airport had a 60 mph gust actually reported at 2:30 p.m., which is unusual because it doesn't have the wind instruments out there that other posts have."

DOWNTOWN: Micalah Sims, 5, tries to find shelter as storms hit the Black Family Reunion at Sawyer Point. (Yoni Pozner photo) | ZOOM |

Morning thunderstorms kept festivities from really getting started at the Black Family Reunion at Bicentennial Commons at Sawyer Point downtown. Afternoon storms sent the diehards who were there scrambling for cover beneath bridges and tents.

High winds toppled one tent, scraping and bruising two people beneath it. No one was seriously injured.

The storms also canceled casino gambling boat cruises in Lawrenceburg and Rising Sun, Ind. Still, at the height of a tornado warning for Dearborn County, the docked Argosy in Lawrenceburg was filled with gamblers.

"We're well-grounded," boat Capt. Randy Kirschbaum said. Steve Brash, manager of public affairs at Cinergy, said power outages were scattered around Hamilton, Clermont, Boone, Kenton and Campbell counties. About 4:30 p.m., nine major circuits that feed thousands of residences and businesses were cut off. Within two hours, power was restored to 13,000 homes, then another wave of lightning and rain hit, causing more outages.

Crews out in force

Sixty Cinergy repair crews were out at one point and managed to cut the number of outages to about 7,000 by late Sunday. Work continued through the night, and all power should be restored by the end of today, Mr. Brash said.

WEST SIDE: Sgt. Gary Hetzel of the Hamilton County Sheriff's Department inspects a fallen tree and power lines on Race Road in Green Township. (Yoni Pozner photo) | ZOOM |

"A lot of these outages are pulled house wires because of trees," Mr. Brash said. "There was also lightning damage."

While homeowners dealt with downed trees and standing water, some businesses were affected by the storms. WCPO-TV (Channel 9) and WXIX-TV (Channel 19) were both temporarily knocked off the air by lightning.

At the Kroger store in Madeira, reports of a tornado prompted the manager to hustle workers and customers into one of the store's large freezers.

"It was a little cold, but they were very good about getting us in there and making sure we were safe," said Roslyn Friedman of Roselawn, who was shopping at the time. "They even got us some of the coats they wear so we wouldn't freeze."

Police lose power

The storm left the Cincinnati District 5 police station without power for more than three hours.

"All the cars were on the road, but it was just the district was out," Officer Phillip Barnes said. "We had to use the radio. It was like doing policing from 25 or 30 years ago, but it was only for a few hours."

Severe weather caused a handful of automobile accidents with minor injuries. "We'd get to one place for a little while, then have to go somewhere else," said Fire Capt. Jerome Wynn, whose crew was kept busy with runs in Hyde Park and Madisonville.

In Clermont County, a small Nissan pickup was crushed about 4:30 p.m. by a fallen tree on U.S. 50, between Miami and Stonelick townships. The driver and passenger crawled out to safety.

"Not many Nissan pickups survive that type of thing without any injuries," Clermont County dispatcher Mark Henriques said.