EF1 tornado in Lawrence County, Ohio

A tornado that began in Greenup County, Kentucky finally crossed the Ohio River and impacted a campground on the Ohio side at Hanging Rock. More significant damage was noted here as several travel trailers were overturned, the roof was blown off of the Laidback Bar, and significant tree damage was noted in the adjacent camping area. Drone footage showed campers tossed in a counter-clockwise motion and some convergence in the tree damage. A salt storage dome was also destroyed in this area, causing significant injury to an employee.

The tornado continued to track eastward, damaging a few homes and damaging the roof and ballfields at Ironton Middle School. The tornado weakened but continued to cause some sporadic damage to homes all the way to the Storms Creek Flood Wall.

Multiple rounds of showers and thunderstorms moved across parts of Ohio at the start of the month of April. An intense squall line raced through portions of southeast Ohio on the late morning of April 2nd, which spawned four tornadoes and caused numerous other locations to observe straight-line wind damage. Additional severe thunderstorms occurred late in the afternoon and into the evening of April 2nd, producing additional tornadoes and wind damage centered within southern and eastern Ohio.

The multiple rounds of rain produced numerous instances of flash flooding around Ohio. Widespread rainfall amounts of 2 to 4 inches had fallen across southern and eastern Ohio, with localized amounts near 6 inches observed. Runoff from this rainfall, coupled with heavy rain occurring in West Virginia and Pennsylvania, caused moderate to major flooding along the Ohio River. Moderate flooding was observed first along the lower Muskingum River, with both McConnellsville and Beverly having surpassed their respective moderate flood stage. Drainage into the Ohio River eventually sent the river into flood on April 4th from north to south, with subsequent crests occurring into April 5th. Locations along the upper reaches experienced moderate flooding. In addition, Marietta exceeded major flood stage. Overall impacts were significant with numerous roads and structures observing flooding along the West Virginia side of the river.