TIPP CITY, Ohio — In the neighborhood behind Tipp City’s Meijer distribution center, cleanup was just getting started. Shingles were ripped from rooftops, outdoor sheds were destroyed and trees were mangled and uprooted.

Homeowners, however, considered themselves lucky. There were no injuries and the damage their neighborhood sustained from Wednesday night’s tornado was mild compared to the partially-collapsed distribution facility up the street. 

What You Need To Know

  • The National Weather Service confirmed an EF-2 tornado touched down in Tipp City

  • The storm damaged a Meijer distribution center and several homes

  • No injuries were reported in Miami County
Thomas Bennett said minor damage was done to his roof cause by a tornado. (Michelle Alfini/Spectrum News 1)

Thomas Bennett spent Thursday morning surveying the damage to his home, talking to roofers and collecting the scattered contents of his shed.

“Most of it’s ruined, my lawnmower, I had an air compressor,” he said. 

Bennett said the storm picked up the shed just behind his house, tossing it and its contents into a ditch, yet besides a few missing shingles, a lost chair and some loose siding, he said his home made it through the storm relatively unscathed. 

“It could’ve been through our house or through their house,” he said.

According to the National Weather Service, an EF-2 tornado ripped through Miami County on Wednesday, leaving a path of minor destruction in Bennett’s neighborhood before tearing into the Meijer distribution center a block away.

"It was like, I have little damage,” Bennett said. “That is like a big deal over there.”

Bennett recalled the warnings coming through his phone at approximately 6 p.m. He said he didn’t think much of it until he felt a rush of wind come through a partially open window. That’s when Bennett grabbed the dog and ran to the basement.

“Then the crashing started,” he said. “The pressure came, hurt all our ears.”

The Meijer distribution center at Tipp City suffered a partial roof collapse from a tornado. (Michelle Alfini/Spectrum News 1)

That’s when Bennett said he knew it was a tornado. He’d experienced one decades earlier while living in upstate New York. Ever since, he said he’s been careful when it comes to severe weather.

“Every house we built, I insisted on having a basement for this reason,” he said.

In his neighborhood, most homes sustained minor damage, but the one closest to the assumed path of the tornado saw several broken windows and part of its roof torn off. It also happened to be a model home. Bennett said no one lives there and it was empty when the storm passed through.

As of Thursday afternoon, there are no reported injuries in Miami County. Bennett considered that a blessing. 

The hardest hit home on Bennett's block was a model home with no one inside. (Michelle Alfini/Spectrum News 1)

He said insurance should cover most of the damage to his home, and the cleanup process has already begun.

“It was scary but we’ll get through it, right?” he said.