Reports of tornado through Windham Township; severe weather topples semitruck on turnpike

Severe weather and a possible tornado in Windham Township Wednesday night toppled a semi truck on the Ohio Turnpike and caused other damage and power outages throughout the area.

The Portage County Emergency Management agency confirmed a touchdown in a Facebook post.

"Tornado has touched down in Windham Township, area of Bryant Road, Rt 82, Ohio Turnpike and Parkman," the agency said. "Avoid the area. #PortageCountyOH Emergency Management is responding with Windham Fire Department, Windham Police and Portage County Sheriff Department."

No injuries have yet been reported.

But the county's emergency management agency posted photos of the damage, which included overturned cars and roofs torn off houses.

Windham Village Mayor Lawrence Cunningham said in a Wednesday night phone interview that most of the damage he had observed was in the township, which wraps around the village. About 3,500 residents live in the village and township.

Cunningham said he began a survey of the area after a speech he was giving at the Lion's Club was interrupted by severe weather reports.

"There's some house damage on Windham-Parkman north of Wolf Road," he said. "We have some damage out on Route 303 in the township."

The mayor said service vehicles assisted the toppled semi on Interstate 80 heading east. Traffic was backed up for miles on that side of the turnpike after the tornado hit around 6:45 p.m. as service crews worked to clean up the damage.

Bryant Road, which runs under the turnpike, was closed to traffic following the storm.

"They have numerous vehicles right now, service vehicles, there helping them out," Cunningham said around 8:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Cunningham said other roads were blocked off as emergency personnel responded to the situation.

"I've talked to the [police] chief and my officers that are blocking roads and directing traffic," he said. "[We] have not heard of anybody being harmed."

The mayor said he hadn't finished his survey of the area, but he was encouraged that he'd had no reports of injuries.

"So far, that's the [only] good thing about what's going on," Cunningham said.

Ohio Edison also reported power outages throughout the area involving hundreds of homes.

He said the fire department was responding to damage on state Route 82.

Power lines were also reported down near Route 82 and Bryant Road.

The National Weather Service had issued a tornado watch for the area, cancelling it at 8:20 p.m.

Reporter Diane Smith contributed to this report. Leave a message for Alan Ashworth at 330-996-3859 or email him at aashworth@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @newsalanbeaconj or Facebook at www.facebook.com/alan.newsman.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Possible tornado tears through Windham Twp, backs up traffic on I-80