CROSS LANES, WV (WOWK) — The National Weather Service (NWS) confirmed that an EF2 tornado, reaching wind speeds up to 115 miles per hour, touched down in Cross Lanes and took an 8 mile non-continuous path down near Sissonville Tuesday.
13 News went to Morning Dove Lane, Hidden Cove and Glow Street, all neighborhoods affected in Cross Lanes, to see how severe the damage was.
Residents described the neighborhood as ground zero for the tornado, with trees scattered all across homeowners lawns and some landing on top of rooftops.
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Multiple power lines broke as well, delaying the return of electric services to homes in the area. There where also two trees that fell and blocked roads in the neighborhood.
One resident 13 News spoke with said that the storm reminded him of a classic movie.
“Looking through the kitchen window, (it was like) Wizard of Oz. Things going sideways, pieces of roofing and big tree branches. And, it was 90 degrees, straight out. It wasn’t falling down; it was going sideways. The wind was so loud. There was a terrible howl,” Dan Huston, a longtime resident of the neighborhood, said.
Another resident 13 News spoke with was a firefighter in Cross Lanes, who was preparing to respond to emergency calls when the storm hit.
“The tornado siren had been going off, so I figured we were going to start getting some calls. I ran upstairs to change, and I heard the glass shatter downstairs. When I came back down, all the trees were down around the house. One had busted through the front window,” firefighter Jason Caltrider said. “I went outside and saw that (the storm) had uprooted several trees, taken out the privacy fence and my chain link fence.”
This community is leaning on each other for support through the storm’s aftermath. Caltrider said that he has neighbors, family and friends coming to help him clean up the mess the storm left behind.