Tornado touches down in Eaton Township (VIDEOS)

EATON TWP. — A storage facility at Eaton Commerce Parkway in Eaton Township bore the brunt of a tornado that hit the area Monday. Shortly before 2:30 p.m. Monday, first responders reported a potential tornado touching down in Eaton Township as a line of severe thunderstorms came through Lorain County. The Cleveland office of the National Weather Service confirmed an EF-0 tornado, adding the tornado touched down for less than a minute and traveled one-tenth of a mile. Earlier in the day, the weather service reported a strong line of storms set to pass through Lorain County ahead of a cold front. The president of Buckeye Storage Condos was nearby as the tornado touched down. Identifying himself only as Kevin, he said three of the buildings suffered damage to the roof, siding and trusses with rain causing water damage to the building. He said that while thankfully no one was injured, the entire roof of one of the storage condo structures blew off and they are dealing with cleanup efforts until insurance adjusters can arrive on the scene. "Well the insurance man's not coming until 6 so I'm sure we'll get some crews up here to at least seal up the roofs and then they can start on repairs after that," he said mid-afternoon Monday. Kevin said no one was present at the time when the damage occurred. "And it's funny because I was here and I left just when it started raining," he said. "So it's probably a good thing." In a post to Facebook, the Eaton Township Fire Department said its crews arrived on scene to find the roof in multiple places throughout the area, causing damage to multiple vehicles, buildings and poles. Greg Romanovich of Ameri-Line Trucking on Royalton Road in Columbia Township said the business also suffered damage. He said what started with typical rain quickly turned, resulting in the loss of his business's roof and a recently installed air-conditioning system. "It was typical rain, and then it started raining sideways. Start to be louder and louder and louder; the windows started pushing in. Everybody ran to the center of the building within 30 seconds," Romanovich said. "We heard a lot of banging noises and there it went." Romanovich added that while some have described the tornado as a freight train, to him it sounded like a constant roar of thunder and he could hear the banging as the roof was being ripped from the building. Despite the damage, Romanavich stressed they were fortunate no one was hurt and none of the windows were damaged. Contact Kevin Martin at (440) 329-7121 or kmartin@chroniclet.com. Follow him on Twitter @KevinMartinCT.