Friday, August 21, 2009

National Weather Service officially declares tornado in Darke County

Wednesday's storms weren't just turbulent - we had an actual tornado here in Darke County. As of Friday evening, the National Weather Service officially declared an EFO tornado (65 mph to 85 mph) two miles west of Greenville on State Route 502. The photo below was taken by weather spotter Brian Phillips at approximately 6:30 p.m. Wednesday. You can actually see two small rotations reaching the ground in the lower-left portion of the photo. According to the NWS:
BASED UPON INFORMATION AND PHOTOGRAPHS RECEIVED FROM EYEWITNESSES...IT WAS DETERMINED THAT A BRIEF AND WEAK TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN IN AN OPEN FIELD 2 MILES WEST OF GREENVILLE NEAR STATE HIGHWAY 502. SINCE THIS TORNADO OCCURRED IN AN OPEN FIELD...NO CROP OR STRUCTURAL DAMAGE WAS REPORTED.
A big thanks to Brian Phillips for the info and photo.

17 comments:

  1. And yet for some reason, Greenville didn't feel the need to set their tornado sirens off! Amazing at the level of irresponsibility we see from our city officials!

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  2. Anonymous --- I totally agree that our officials would not use the sirens and is ==a level of irresponsibility and what if it would have hit then they would sound the sirens, what a pity, need new officials, don't you think????

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  3. I was wondering the same thing! Who makes the decision to set them off?

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  4. we were waiting for the sirens to go off, but of course every first Monday of the month at 12:00 they go off! Thanks for the warning Greenville~

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  5. It just makes no sense! The National Weather Service issued a Tornado Warning. The warning included the City of Greenville. There were funnel clouds and rotating wall clouds spotted! There was obvioiusly some danger to the citizens, thank god nothing happened, but what if something would have. The city was irresponsible and I want answers and someone to be held accountable. Why even have the tornado sirens if you aren't going to use them?

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  6. I completely agree with what everyone is saying on here. Why weren't there sirens? I saw the rotating clouds and kept thinking the sirens were going to go off any second. I thought it was quite comical when our 911 dispatcher was talking on Channel 7 news about the public staying in their "safe places" and to not be out on the roads. However, since the sirens never went off people who didn't happen to have their tv or radios on wouldn't have known what was going on. I think there needs to be some explaining as to why the sirens were not alarmed. Does anyone know who is in charge of the sirens and who to ask about this? Think of how many lives could've been lost because no one was given a proper warning. Thank God it didn't turn deadly! If a warning is issued and Greenville is included in the warning area - the sirens should go off immediately. A tornado can form instantly - with no visual warning. Please whoever is in charge of setting off the sirens - don't let the community down again!

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  7. The city fire department is the one in charge of setting off the tornado sirens within the Greenville City Limits. They are the ones who obviously dropped the ball.

    The 911 dispatcher was trying to get information out there, but it is the city's fault for not doing their part.

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  8. Can anybody verify who is responsible for sounding the tornado warning alarm in Greenville?

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  9. City Fire Dept is in charge of the sirens...obviously lack of "funds" to make sure the community is protected! sad :(

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  10. Contact John Schmidt he can tell you who is responsible for this, he'll probably tell you the Fire Dept., the police Dept. and certain city officials are responsible for this, if he tells you anything at all.

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  11. Isn't John Schmidt the city safety director? I believe all emergency agencies within Greenville are supervised by him.

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  12. Safety Director ... conforting to know that "our lives" were in his hands Wednesday night. Best have a good explanation! And if he was on vacation, who was his second in command?

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  13. These are the same people that want to move EMS to the Fire Dept, no thanks.

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  14. I also have to wonder why, when all the TV weather broadcasters were sounding so ominous, that our own tornado sirens weren't going off? If Jamie Simpson (Channel 7)had been in charge, I am certain we all would have heard our sirens!

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  15. You can also go to the cities website and look under city ordinances, there should be one wrote up on testing and conditions for activation of the tornado sirens.

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  16. To be fair, if the news station were in charge the sirens would be going off every time there is a cloud in the sky. In this case there was probably the need, but 80% of the time they over hype the weather... I guess its all about ratings... The people I would be concerned about are the ones who were inside with no windows, like at GTI for instance. For everyone else that could see outside there is that little bit of common sense that says, wow its pretty nasty looking out there, maybe we should get to safety...

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  17. Common Sense people...do you need a siren to tell you to take cover when there is harsh weather. My God how did they ever survive before sirens and 24 hour weather people. Although I agree those areas that have tornado sirens are obligated to warn the citizenry it is the ultimate responsibility of the person to protect their own safety. A tornado siren is a last minute warning. When you hear it you better duck and cover. It's to be used when all hell is about to be unleashed.

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