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Numerous power transmission poles were toppled in Celina's Eastview Park by the March 14th tornado.
CELINA - City linemen and outside crews executed a herculean, around-the-clock operation to restore power after an EF1 tornado ripped through Celina on March 17, causing extensive damage to the city's electric system.
Mayor Jeff Hazel at Monday night's regular council meeting said the tornado that began at about 7 p.m. clipped the electricity loop on both sides, plunging the city into darkness.
Hazel said just short of a dozen 75-foot-high transmission poles were knocked down at the fairgrounds and another eight or nine at Eastview Park.
Crews were promptly dispatched to several sites and worked through the night and morning and then some restoring power. They were assisted by linemen and equipment from Wapakoneta, Tipp City, Piqua and Versailles, who came via a mutual aid program.
City safety service director Tom Hitchcock said power was restored within three hours after the tornado for about 75% of the city's customers.
"When we got the majority of people on power on Thursday night, it was because they were all going through one substation," Hazel explained. "The other three (substations) could not get power to them."
Both the transmission and distribution lines had to be restored.
"We had everybody out because of the tornado," he said. "Walmart and the strip center next to it, they finally got connected around 10:30, 11 o'clock on Sunday morning. Walmart was running on a generator, just so you know. That's why they were open."
Hazel said restoring power was an incredibly difficult task.
"We didn't lollygag around," Hazel said. "They had a couple 20-hour days, plus again on Sunday morning. These guys were getting by on about three or four hours of sleep and right back at it."
Councilors passed resolutions expressing gratitude to Piqua, Wapakoneta, Tipp City and Versailles for providing mutual assistance via American Municipal Power, a nonprofit wholesale power supplier of which all the communities are members.
Hazel also addressed other damage inflicted by storms.
"Overall we were very fortunate. Inside the city of Celina we had no injuries. The one individual on Devonshire, she was trapped, I believe, in a restroom. We were able to get her out unharmed," he said. "There were three minor injuries at the trailer park Grand Manor outside on (State Route) 703."
According to the National Weather Service, an EF1 tornado packing wind speeds up to 100 mph began in Celina a few blocks east of North Main Street along East Anthony Street.
It moved eastward and eventually went into Auglaize County. The NWS said the tornado was on the ground for 24 minutes, cutting a swath 16.1 miles long with a maximum width of 1,050 yards.
