The Cincinnati Enquirer

A band of storms that pounded Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky with thunder, rain and lightning early Monday is blamed for the death of a man at a Warren County lake.

The 35-year-old man, who was not being identified Monday, was struck by lightning while fishing at Cozy-Dale Campgrounds in Hamilton Township about 1 a.m.

Additionally, fire officials in Anderson Township are investigating whether lightning ignited a blaze that destroyed a single-story home at 869 Wismar Dr. Union, firefighters blamed lightning for an earlier weekend fire.

Anderson Township Assistant Chief Craig Best said a neighbor reported the fire at 5:58 a.m. Monday, and it is possible that the fire started during the storm and smoldered for hours. The occupants were in Florida, he said. Damage was estimated at $80,000 to $100,000.

High winds in northwestern Ohio's Highland County destroyed a small barn, uprooted trees and shifted several outbuildings from their foundations. Witnesses reported a funnel cloud in the area, but officials with the National Weather Service in Wilmington said they cannot confirm that a tornado touched down.

Dispatchers from Boone County in Northern Kentucky to Adams County in Ohio reported that high winds felled trees but there was no serious damage.

An Independence family took shelter in their basement as the storm hit just after 12:30 a.m. Monday. Jessie Dalton said pieces from a neighbor's shed smashed into their home in the 900 block of Maher Road, shattering windows.

She said a basketball goal in the driveway, which was secured at the base in cement, snapped in half and winds pushed a camper trailer into the house. A neighbor's roof was partly removed by the storm but no one was hurt, said Dalton.

"I'm grateful that it was only property damage," she said.

Lightning from an earlier wave of storms Sunday afternoon started a fire at an unoccupied home in Union, Kentucky. Damage was estimated at $400,000 at the house on Mountain Laurel Way in Boone County.

In many parts of Kentucky, the Memorial Day holiday was spent recovering from severe thunderstorms that brought down trees and power lines and caused flash flooding, the Associated Press reported.

The National Weather Service in Louisville confirmed a tornado touched down in a southeastern Jefferson County subdivision Sunday. Structural damage was reported, but no injuries. The weather service in Paducah also confirmed an F-2 tornado Sunday afternoon one mile west of Barnsley in Hopkins County, with winds reaching 140 mph and cutting a path of damage six miles long.

Damage was estimated at $300,000 as roofs were blown off businesses and one home was destroyed, the weather service reported Monday. There were no injuries.

Much of Kentucky was still reeling from storms that brought flooding earlier in the week when two rounds of severe weather rolled through the state Sunday. The small town of Eminence in Henry County was hit by an F-2 tornado Thursday that damaged many homes and businesses.

Another unconfirmed tornado was seen Sunday in McCracken County. A mobile home east of Barkley Regional Airport in Paducah was knocked from its foundation, said McCracken County Emergency Management Director Kent King. Rick Shanklin of the National Weather Service based at the airport said he saw a tornado touch down for about 10 seconds.

The weather service lost power and phone service briefly.

The same storm system spawned several tornadoes in the Midwest over the weekend, killing nine people.