Surveying the damage

Storm toppled trees in Liberty, Hubbard and Youngstown

LIBERTY -- Ziba and Christina Watson of Youngstown-Hubbard Road lost about 10 trees in Tuesday night's tornado, with two of them across their driveway.

The National Weather Service asked them not to move or clean up the damage until after the agency viewed their property Wednesday to determine whether the damage was caused by a tornado. The NWS ruled it was an EF-0 tornado.

The family lives near Applegate Road, about two-thirds of a mile north of Youngstown, which also sustained storm damage, apparently all of it along Jacobs Road near Hubbard.

"It kind of focused on our property," Ziba Watson said Wednesday morning as he and his wife looked around their yard.

They started making calls regarding what their insurance would cover. The two trees on the driveway are the most visible damage, but another tree hit an out-building containing Ziba's vehicle, which was damaged.

And a tree at the edge of their property next to Applegate also fell in several directions. Lots of branches came down.

Christina was home with their children when the storm came through.

"I was starting to gather them up to get them into the laundry room," she said of the family's designated storm space. "By the time I did that, it was gone."

She said she did not hear anything outside, but she noticed a pressure change in the atmosphere.

"The alert went on the phone, and I was like, 'We never get anything.' And then (Ziba) called me and asked if I got the (phone) alert. As soon as I got off the phone, I told my oldest son the game plan, like 'If mom says go, go to the laundry room,'" she said.

'He said 'Mom, it's getting windy,' so I said, 'I'll grab your brother. Get your sister. We're going to the laundry room.' By the time I did all that to get to the laundry room, it was gone," she said of the storm. "It happened so quickly."

She said she did not hear trees falling.

"My focus was on my kids," she said.

The storm tore off vinyl siding and shingles, took items off the house, like the screen door, communication wires and a gutter. The Watsons did not lose power, but Christina said some neighbors did.

Ziba said that while he was talking to Christina on the phone, he was driving home.

"I was watching this tornado. And I was talking to her and I said, 'It looks like it's over our house,'" he said.

The warning he got about a possible tornado was especially helpful because it showed on a map where he was physically located and showed a dark red area where the tornado was expected, he said.

"It was a really nice map. My house was right in the path," he said.

Christina said she doesn't know what the storm looked like, but it seemed to affect every part of their property because branches and trees came down throughout.

The Youngstown Police 911 Center said the damage in Youngstown was on side streets off Jacobs Road on the East Side near Hubbard, including Castalia, Orrin, Gerwig, Nelson, Knapp, Bowman, Regis and Seifert avenues.

The time period when the most calls came in for property damage from the storm was 6 to 7 p.m.