The tornado developed from the same supercell thunderstorm that produced two- to three-inch hail in Centerville and Bellbrook, downing trees and power lines, shattering car windshields, punching holes through roofs and siding, and denting vehicles and buildings.
Allstate Insurance regional spokesman Jeff Ormond said the most extensive damage claims filed Thursday in Ohio were from Montgomery and Greene counties.
“Dayton is definitely one of the harder hit parts of the state,” said Blake Zitko, spokesman for State Farm Insurance, Ohio’s largest insurer.
State Farm agents had received 1,198 property damage claims and 1,678 automobile claims by 1 p.m. Thursday from the greater Dayton area. Zitko expected those numbers to climb as more claims were filed for wind, hail and water damage.
The Miami Valley hasn’t seen three-inch hail in more than a decade, said WHIO-TV meteorologist Erica Collura.
The unusually large hail was caused by a low pressure system that brought in a boundary with a strong wind field, Collura said. “These thunderstorms had major updrafts. That’s why we had such big hail,” she said.
Centerville Body Shop had 10 to 15 people waiting at the door Thursday when it opened, and all three phone lines rang nonstop, said Vice President Mike Coleman.
“We’ve never had broken glass like this, or this much hail damage to cars,” Coleman said. “It’s definitely a rarity for this area.”
Coleman said the shop was busier Thursday than it was after the April 9, 2001, hailstorm in Dayton and Kettering. That storm caused at least $70 million in insured losses from about 27,575 claims, according to the Ohio Insurance Institute.
Loss estimates for Wednesday’s storm were not yet available, insurance officials said.
“We’ll probably be busy for the rest of the year, that’s how bad it’s going to be with the amount of damage,” Coleman said.
Dan Eggert of Centerville was told it would be two or three weeks before the shop could repair his mother-in-law’s 2006 Saturn, which had smashed-out front and back windows, and a pock-marked hood, roof and trunk. “I’ve got to go home before it rains again and get some tarps over the top,” he said.
At least 40 new cars at the Lexus of Dayton dealership in Washington Twp. were dented by hail, said business owner John Higgins. That represents 80 percent of the dealership’s inventory of new cars, which average from $60,000 to $70,000, he said.
Lexus is experiencing production problems in the wake of Japan’s recent earthquake and tsunami disaster. “I can’t just call and get more cars in here,” Higgins said.
Square One Salon and Spa in Centerville had three large windows shattered in its second-floor spa waiting area. “It looked like somebody threw baseballs through them,” said Leslie Harbach, a salon manager.
Eight salon employee cars and five client cars had windows or sunroofs broken by hail.
Staff gathered with clients in the center of the salon and kept people away from windows during the storm. “Everybody is safe, that’s what counts,” Harbach said.
An 80- to 100-foot tree in the front yard of Tom and Vicki Rentz’s Washington Twp. home uprooted, sending the tree crashing through the family’s attached garage on Quiet Meadows Lane.
“I was in the first level watching the storm out the back window,” Tom Rentz said. “I saw lightning, then heard a huge thud and felt the house shake. I looked out front and could see nothing but limbs.”
Rentz said he went to check for damage by way of the garage, but then “I saw that we don’t have a garage.”
The ash tree, which likely was close to 100 years old, destroyed the garage and at least two cars in its path.
“It pancaked my truck,” Rentz said of his Chevy Suburban, which was one of two cars in the garage. “We can’t get the vehicles out.”
Just as the Meadowbrook Country Club in Clayton was recovering from Monday’s storm — which knocked out power to the clubhouse, destroyed 66 trees, including one that fell into the club’s pool and suspended play on the front nine holes — Wednesday’s storm delivered an even heavier blow. Now club officials are frantically making repairs and clearing fairways of damaged trees to be ready to host Sunday’s club tournament.
“We hope to have 18 holes playable by Saturday and the pool open Saturday or Sunday,” said club pro Bill Williams, who has been working around the clock since storm damage closed the 87-year-old club Monday night.
He said the tournament remains in jeopardy because he doesn’t expect that the front-nine cart paths will be usable by then.
Another line of storms to the south produced a tornado around 12:28 a.m. Thursday in Liberty Twp. in Butler County, according to the National Weather Service. The twister flipped over a car and damaged several homes.
“The survey is still ongoing, so the rating of wind speeds or the severity is not known just yet,” meteorologist Kevin Dietsch said.
Initial estimates from Liberty Twp. total 16 damaged homes, two with major damage on Glen Hollow Drive, according to Liberty Twp. Fire Chief Paul Stumpf.
Staff writers Jill Kelley, Marc Katz and Kareem Elgazzar contributed to this report.
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