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Volume 56, No. 6
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CHESTERLAND NEWS
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Last week’s storm produced multiple tornadoes, including one that struck Chester Township.
Tornado, High Winds Cause Power Outages Chester Sustains The Worst Damage By Ann Wishart ann@karlovecmedia.com
The roar of generators and the buzz of chain saws echoed around Geauga County Aug. 7 and 8 as residents dealt with the aftermath of four tornadoes that tore through Northeast Ohio Tuesday evening. The National Weather Service reported one EH-1 tornado cut a swath through Kirtland, Chester Township and ended at Wilson Mills Road in Munson Township.
Chester Hit Hardest
“I watched the Chesterland tornado rip through our pasture as we went to the basement,” Robert
Ciszak commented on a Facebook post. “Rain was coming through closed windows like they weren’t there. In the end — Boulder Glen is decimated. Hundreds of trees down, two houses (ours included) with trees on them or in them. We had two vehicles crushed. Our street has worked together and we have a lot cleaned up from what it was — but there’s 30 years of damage done.” Chester was hit hardest in the county. At one point, so many trees came down across electric wires that most of the township was without power, said Chester Township Fire Chief Bill Shaw in a phone interview Aug. 12. “I'd estimate we were in the 90% range,” he said. “We did have a substantial number of trees down. It's so forested here, when they
come down, they get tangled up in the wires.” When that happens, the area loses power until the wires can be cleared, he said. Chester Township Fire Department fielded 53 calls for service in the first six hours after the storm, said firefighter Mike Gibson Aug. 9, adding they had close to 100 storm-related calls by noon Friday “We had a lot of trees fall into houses and a lot of electrical problems. It was definitely unusual for us,” he said. “We had crews out throughout the storm handling multiple calls.” The department coordinated with nearby Russell, Munson and Kirtland fire departments in mutual aid during and after the storm because so many roads were blocked by trees or wires down that trucks couldn't get to callers, Gibson said.
“We did help one elderly couple get out of their house and navigate their way to a street that was passable,” Shaw said, adding they were picked up by a family member and taken to a safe place. About the time the high winds hit Chester, the department received a call from a resident in terrible back pain. An ambulance was dispatched, but the crew had to pick its way through falling trees and torrential rain. “It took an hour and a half to get him to the emergency room. We hadn't done damage assessment, yet. They were finding (those areas) in the middle of a rain storm with a patient in the back. That was the most harrowing emergency we had,” Shaw said, crediting the fire and rescue staff for their dedication See Tornado • Page 4
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