Sunday, April 11, 1999

Warren County took blow, too

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BY STEVE KEMME
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Paul B. Karl, president of OKI Window Systems Inc. in the Loveland Commercial Park, salvages what he can from his office. (Tony Jones photos) | ZOOM |

        DEERFIELD TOWNSHIP — In this Warren County township, 60 houses sustained a total of $1.5 million in damage from the tornado.

        Five houses were declared unlivable or were condemned by the Warren County Building Department, while 20 houses suffered moderate to significant structural damage, according to the Deerfield Township Fire Department.

        South of the county line in Loveland, crews surveyed damage at several homes and businesses affected by Friday's storm. At the Loveland Commercial Park, workers moved items from warehouses. Others tried to save files from the OKI Window Systems Inc. building which lost its roof and numerous windows.

        In Warren County, Ball Road in the subdivision of Loveland Park, a community of mostly modest single-story homes, was one of the hardest-hit streets in Deerfield Township. Power saws roared in many yards Saturday as residents stacked tree limbs near the street.

        A huge tree crashed down through the middle of the home of Martin and Nikki Alvarez, cutting it in two. They and some helpers worked to cut off some of the tree's limbs so that it could be pulled from the house.

        Two doors down the street, Doug Miller stood on a ladder hammering his cable TV and telephone lines to the side of his house. They had broken loose during the tornado.

        The storm had ripped his front porch away and dropped it in his back yard and tore away about 5 feet of his front roof.

        The tornado smashed his back yard shed against a tree, but left the contents of the shed virtually undisturbed.

        Mr. Miller, his wife, Sonya, and their 13-year-old son, Brandon, huddled in the bathtub for safety as the tornado roared outside.

        “We're just glad to be alive,” Mr. Miller said. “I can't say enough about the Deerfield Township police and firefighters. They were on our street within five minutes after the tornado hit.”

        Dozens of volunteers also helped tornado victims in Deerfield Township.

        On Ball Street, about 15 members of St. Margaret of York Church helped clear tree limbs and other heavy debris from people's yards.

        They worked hard Saturday afternoon lugging tree limbs from the back yards of Glenn Wyatt and Dave Lynch.

        Mr. Wyatt considered himself lucky because only his garage roof was damaged.

        “Look around at all the tall trees that are left,” he said. “There are at least six of them could have hit my house.”

       

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