Extensive damage to hundreds of homes after EF-2 tornado hits Goshen, Ohio
A confirmed EF-2 tornado touched down in Goshen, Ohio on July 6, 2022, causing extensive damage to hundreds of homes and injuring 2 people.
Early in the morning on July 6, a band of training storms moved from northeast Indiana southeast through west-central Ohio and central Ohio, producing a swath of 50 to 150 mm (2 – 6 inches) of rain near this corridor.
By the afternoon, a large complex of storms tracked east from central Indiana through east-central Indiana and the Tri-State area, producing large swaths of significant straight-line wind damage and a few tornadoes.
The National Weather Service (NWS) confirmed on July 7 that an EF-2 tornado touched down in Goshen.
The twister traveled 7.2 km (4.5 miles) from 15:06 to 15:14 EDT. As it approached Goshen, it strengthened rapidly and grew to about 685 m (750 yards) in width.1
The tornado crossed the main street just to the west of Highway 28 causing significant damage to a couple of businesses.
An insurance agency completely lost its roof and several of the exterior walls collapsed. A woman inside the business was transported to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
The large and strong tornado then crossed Highway 28 significantly damaging a fire station and causing complete roof loss to a brick business next door. Most of the exterior walls on the business also collapsed. A firefighter at the fire station also suffered minor injuries.
This was the strongest point in the tornado life cycle with winds estimated at around 209 km/h (130 mph).
The tornado continued moving southeast along Goshen Road snapping hundreds of trees and causing at least six more homes to completely lose their roofs. A couple of additional homes also had some failure of exterior walls.
The tornado struck both the middle and high school causing some roof and siding damage. The tornado continued moving to the southeast crossing Woodville Pike near its intersection with Manila Rd.
It then crossed Moler Road where it completely destroyed a barn and downed dozens of trees, Based on the Highway Patrol video the tornado likely lifted somewhere between Moler Road and Cedarville Road.
According to Goshen Township administrator Stephen Pegram, falling trees caused extensive damage to hundreds of homes.2
Early estimates mention between 150 and 200 homes and buildings damaged, with multiple structures completely torn apart.3
Numerous gas leaks were reported across the region, including the town’s fire station.
More than 100 power poles were downed, leaving thousands of customers without power. Duke Energy officials said it will be days before all power is restored, urging affected residents to make alternate plans.
References:
1 Public Information Statement – National Weather Service – Wilmington, OH – 509 PM EDT Thu Jul 7 2022
2 EF2 tornado with maximum wind speed of 130 mph confirmed in Goshen, NWS says – Fox19 – July 7, 2022
3 Confirmed EF2 tornado devastates southwest Ohio town – AccuWeather
Teo Blašković founded The Watchers in 2011 and edited it until 2026, covering seismic and volcanic activity, extreme weather, space weather and near-Earth objects. Articles on this page are his archive.
Earlier reporting
Nothing on Watchers was published in the last 24 hours. These are older articles.
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