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NWS confirms EF1 tornado touches down in Columbus

A EF1 tornado with estimated wind speeds up to 90 mph touched down Wednesday morning, causing damage in parts of Columbus, the National Weather Service in Wilmington confirmed.

The tornado touched down just before 6 a.m. A survey team on site Wednesday determined the tornado was 150 yards wide and traveled 3¾ miles.

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There was evidence a weak tornado began in the Olde Towne neighborhood, where there were numerous large tree branches down or tree trunks snapped.

Also, a pickup truck was partially lifted off the ground and sustained damage to both passenger side tires as it was forced back down to the pavement, according to the NWS.

Tree damage occurred in the Bexley area, and the Mayfair neighborhood near East Broad Street and South James Road sustained the most significant tornado damage, consistent with an EF1 tornado, NWS survey team members reported.

There, several homes sustained roof, siding and shingle damage. There were numerous large trees uprooted or snapped, causing significant damage to homes, garages and vehicles. In addition, two cinder block garages had their roofs lifted off, with one or two block walls collapsed.

The storm caused one elementary school to close for the day and a second school to dismiss at 9:30 a.m., our news partner WBNS-TV in Columbus reported.

The storm knocked out power to at least 1,200 AEP Energy customers after the storm rolled through. At 7:05 p.m., only 89 outages remained in Franklin County, according to an online outage map.

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