Destructive Weather Smashes Home, Causes Other Damage

NORWALK, OHIO — High winds wreaked havoc Monday afternoon in the town of Norwalk in Huron County as a storm system blew in.

“So we were closing the windows and they just heard a big boom and it fell, and there’s absolutely no kitchen,” said Sydney Chicoteo as she showed us what once was the kitchen of her family’s Norwalk home on Rule Street, before a giant tree smashed into it, literally shearing off the back room of their home.

“There was cabinetry all right here, dishwasher, oven, cabinets up top, doorway is straight through there and there was actually a basement door right here,” Chicoteo said looking into the now roof-less kitchen with a fallen tree inside it.

A short distance away on Elm Street, Anthony Smith recalls the tense moments the winds ripped through the town with explosive force, propelling a large tree branch into his roof.

“The wind was blowing at about 100 miles an hour, I’d estimate, for about 30 seconds and that was it. I mean, it was just real noisy and then it was over,” Smith said.

The steeple on the First Baptist Church toppled and came crashing to the ground.

Power and cable lines were torn down and tattered.

Power crews rushed to make repairs, as did clean-up crews.

Diana Mohr said she was at school when someone called to tell her a tree crashed into her home.

“Oh my gosh, got to get home and make sure everybody is OK! No kids were home,” Mohr said.

“It was something. We’ve never seen anything like it – this was quick, this was fast,” Smith said.

A Norwalk Police Department dispatcher said they had no reports of any injuries or fatalities.

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