PEPPER PIKE, OH — The National Weather Service confirmed an EF1 tornado hit Pepper Pike overnight.
According to the NWS, the tornado hit around 3:35 a.m. and had speeds of around 112 mph.
The path of the tornado began just northwest of Ursuline College and continued across part of the campus.
In nearby Lyndhurst, huge trees along Harleston Drive were no match for the high winds that whipped through early Saturday morning.
Residents in that neighborhood woke up to find trees littered in their front and backyards.
The Barrett family home sustained severe damage.
A massive tree on their neighbor’s yard crashed into their home.
Amanda Barrett said they were awoken out of their beds around 3:40 a.m. “The wind was so severe. I never heard the wind so strong,” Barrett said.
She moved the children from their bedrooms and that turned out to be best thing she could have done. “About 30 seconds later, we saw lightning, heard thunder and heard the tree crash on the house, she said.” For her son, Trent Tavarez, it was scary. “I heard a giant crash and lightning at the exact same time — like an explosion practically,” Tavarez said.
The back of the house, where the children would have been, took the brunt of the damage.
“It hit our addition, our back room. It hit my daughter’s room upstairs and broke the foundation. The wall is all cracked all around. It shattered a nightlight in my son’s room. So, two rooms have damage,” Barrett said.
Karen Urda said she couldn’t believe the amount of damage the tree from her property did. “Came down and looked at it. Just could not believe my eyes. I mean, it’s pretty horrific.”
Unlike her neighbors across the street, Rita Gilman had the trees in her backyard fall away from the house.
She did not realize how much damage had been done until the morning. “And, then we saw all the neighbors’ trees down — our four trees down. These two big trees have been always here ever since I remember and this is the first time we ever, ever experienced anything like this,” Gilman said.
Despite all the damage on the street, Lyndhurst Police report that no one was hurt in this storm.
For more on the severe weather that struck Northeast Ohio early Saturday, click here.