Storms force customers, employees to take shelter in stores

Employees and customers at several businesses had to take shelter in those businesses as Wednesday night's storms delivered heavy rain, lightning and probably some tornadoes.

At Melody's, a family restaurant in Park Layne Manor in Clark County, across from a Sunoco gas station damaged in the rough weather, customers and workers went into the restrooms and a walk-in freezer.

The restaurant's roof collapses and an air conditioning unit was blown off the roof to the parking lot.

There were no injuries reported.

In Beavercreek, an employee at the Steak N Shake off North Fairfield Road said about 40 people took cover in the freezer for about an hour.

In Sugarcreek Twp., Brian Aleslagle said his wife and several other customers at the Walmart Supercenter on Wilmington Pike were taken to a room at the rear of the store until the storms passed.

He said he spoke to her twice, by cell phone, and she reported that employees told the customers they could leave at any time during the storm -- but without their purchases because the employees wouldn't be ringing them up.

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