Tornado sirens, which are used to alert people who are outdoors of a possible tornado, went off in several communities, and some people questioned whether they were turned on after strong winds had already passed.
On social media, local people were also questioning why they did not receive an alert on their cellphones.
Wireless emergency alerts are sent out to cellphones located within the geographic area included in a tornado warning, said Brandon Peloquin, warning coordination meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Wilmington.
Tornado warning zones are outlined in red shapes in radar footage and snapshots. Wednesday night’s storms saw tornado warnings that impacted a chunk of Greene County, but residents outside of the tornado warning zone — which encompassed parts of Bellbrook, Xenia and Cedarville — would not have received a wireless emergency alert.
“Most severe thunderstorm warnings don’t get to phones, but all tornado warnings do,” he said. “All phones should come enabled to receive those.”
Peloquin advised residents to have access to more than one method of notification for severe weather alerts: monitoring local media, using a weather radio, and signing up for emergency notifications through local emergency management agencies and sheriff’s offices.
“Have multiple ways to receive warnings. If one way doesn’t work properly, you don’t want a single point of failure,” he said.
Strong winds are not expected the rest of the week, but heavy rains are in the forecast. Multiple rounds of showers are expected throughout the weekend, increasing the risk of flooding in Southwest Ohio.
A flood watch is in effect for the region until 8 a.m. Sunday, according to the National Weather Service in Wilmington.
Heavy rainfall, particularly overnight, will take place through the end of the week.
People in areas prone to flooding should be prepared to take action, according to the NWS.
Saturday night may have the overall heaviest rainfall of the week due to strong dynamics interacting with a moist airmass.
There’s also a chance for storms Friday night, including some that could be strong to severe. It will be the region’s third day of severe weather risk in a week.
The NWS confirmed three EF0 tornadoes touched down in Butler and Warren counties Sunday night.
An EFO tornado is the weakest rating on the Enhanced Fujita Scale and has speeds between 65 and 85 mph.
A tornado downed multiple trees and damaged several mobile homes and homes near New Miami in Butler County.
Downed trees and some minor house damage was caused by a second tornado in the West Chester Twp. and Mason areas.
The third tornado overturned some trailers at Camp Cedar RV Resort. A house east of Ohio 48 had a partial wall collapse on its garage.
Multiple tornado warnings were issued Wednesday night and Thursday morning for parts of Greene, Miami and Preble counties as another round of severe storms moved through Southwest Ohio.
The NWS confirmed at a tornado touched down in Brown County and a second one was in Clinton and Fayette counties early Thursday.
Credit: Nick Graham
Credit: Nick Graham
Credit: Nick Graham
Credit: Nick Graham
In Moraine, storms knocked down a power pole and line and pieces of a roof were blown off, according to the NWS.
A large tree fell on a house on Prystup Place in Miami Twp.
Franklin had a report of a large tree that was uprooted on a home.
Thousands of people lost power during the storms, with more than 5,000 AES Ohio customers and about 49,000 Duke Energy customers in Ohio and Kentucky without service around 5 a.m.
Staff writers Jen Balduf and Holly Souther contributed to this report.
About the Authors
