By John Seewer
The Associated Press

PORT CLINTON, Ohio - Ken Limestahl knew the storm was out there. He heard the sirens and saw the warnings on television.

Ohio Gov. Bob Taft tours tornado damage at the Van Wert movie theater Tuesday. (Steven M. Herppich photos) | ZOOM |

He dashed to his basement with his wife just before a piece of lumber crashed through their front window. "We were watching on TV and the next you know, it was here," he said.

Authorities across northwest Ohio say emergency weather sirens and tornado alerts on radio and television likely saved countless lives from the storm that spawned tornadoes over a 100-mile path of destruction Sunday. Five were killed.

More than 70 tornadoes and thunderstorms killed at least 35 people in five states over the weekend and Monday. More than 200 were injured.

In Ohio, one person was thrown from a car and killed, and two died in collapsed homes. Two others were killed when their mobile home overturned.

Ohio National Guard Spcs. Doug Ranly (top) and Toby Norman, out of Saint Mary's, Ohio, hang an American flag that was found Tuesday in a government building during cleanup in Van Wert, Ohio. | ZOOM |

Gov. Bob Taft on Tuesday added Seneca and Paulding counties to an emergency declaration already issued for Van Wert and Ottawa counties. The declaration allows state agencies to help local officials.

As survivors took a closer look at the damage, they marveled that more lives weren't lost.

"I thought there couldn't be anybody alive over there," said Katie Limestahl, who came out her basement and saw close to a dozen homes that had been flattened.

Trees, shredded bedding and clothing littered yards in the neighborhood that hummed from chainsaws and generators Tuesday, two days after the tornado.

Betty Molner, 77, watched relatives carry clothing and blankets out of her roofless house.

"We've lived here almost 40 years," she said, as she looked into her picture window and a living room filled with tree limbs.

No one was killed in Port Clinton. Sirens were sounded twice before the tornado hit.

"It's amazing with the force and fury of this storm, there was so little loss of life," Mr. Taft said Tuesday while touring Van Wert County, where two victims died.

In Port Clinton, prisoners from the Erie and Ottawa county jails cleaned up tree limbs on the Lake Erie shore, working alongside volunteers from the Salvation Army.

Home improvement stores gave away plywood, gloves and other building supplies. Employees helped clean up fallen tree branches.

Frank Arico came from Flint, Mich., and helped his mother move her belongings from what was left of her home. Part of the roof was ripped off and walls were cracked.

"They got in the basement and thought that was it," Mr. Arico said.

The National Weather Service said the tornado had winds of up to 157 mph by the time it hit Port Clinton. When it had crossed the Indiana line into Van Wert County, the tornado had winds of more than 200 mph. The storm was moving northeast at nearly 50 mph, not leaving much warning for communities in its path.

In 17 Ohio counties, the American Red Cross estimated that at least 138 homes, mobile homes and apartments were destroyed and 980 had minor damage.

State Farm Insurance Cos., which insures the largest number of Ohioans, said Tuesday that it had received claims totaling $17 million.