NWS: ‘Large tornado on the ground’ near St. Marys; thousands without power

Credit: Daniel Susco

A large tornado was reported on the ground Thursday night near St. Marys as strong storms pushed through the northern portion of the Miami Valley, knocking out power to thousands.

The Auglaize County Emergency Management Agency reported the tornado at 7:08 p.m. on the ground north of Highway 33 near the Auglaize/Mercer county line.

The National Weather Service in Wilmington issued a tornado warning for the area, noting at 7:11 p.m. that “a confirmed large and extremely dangerous tornado was located near St. Marys, moving east at 45 mph.”

The warning indicated the damage threat was “considerable,” but so far no damage or injury reports have come in, and parts of the far northern Miami Valley remain under tornado and severe thunderstorm warnings.

AES Ohio reported 1,370 customers in Auglaize County were without power at 7:35 p.m., according to the utility’s outage map.

By 8:05 p.m., the number of power outages jumped to more than 4,500, with 3,133 in Logan County and 1,404 in Auglaize County.

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