Tornado tears through county, causes much damage (UPDATED)

A tornado swept through Medina County on Tuesday night, according to the National Weather Service. A National Weather Service survey confirmed damage consistent with an EF-1 tornado with maximum wind speed of 100 mph. The tornado began in Lorain County and tracked southeast into Medina County between 11:30 and 11:40 p.m. The tornado, which traveled for approximately 11.48 miles with a span of 100 yards, lifted just south of the city of Medina. Wednesday's daylight showed the power of the twister that left behind significant damage for residents to clean up. Trees were down all over the county, and much of the region lost power. According to FirstEnergy, it will be late today before the final power outages are restored. At its peak, the electric company reported more than 9,600 county residents were without power, with more than half — nearly 5,000 — in Medina. One Medina man was sitting in his home in the 100 block of South Street when an oak tree tore off the back corner of his house. He broke his leg in two places. He was taken to Cleveland Clinic Medina Hospital and then transferred to the trauma center at Akron General Hospital. "The back corner of the house is gone," said another resident in the home who would not identify the injured man. "We were scrambling to get our three pets and we weren't fast enough." She was taking her 18-year-old cat, Pye, to the veterinarian's office Wednesday. "She was in the debris," the woman said. "This could have been a lot worse." Further down the street, in the 500 block of South Elmwood Ave., a giant tree fell on a woman's pickup and van in the driveway. One can barely see the vehicles, which are covered by branches and limbs. "My mom was worried for years about the tree falling on one of the neighbors' houses," son Ray Leonard said. "This saved her 20 grand to cut the tree." Leonard, 43, said he was in a dead sleep at his home on Abbeyville Road in Medina. "The wind picked up and it got quiet. I thought I'd better hit the basement," he said. One house in the 400 block of Mill Street in Medina was slammed by a giant tree. It caused major damage to its roof. Across South Elmwood Avenue, CVS pharmacy had much of its roof torn off. Workers were cleaning up pieces of the roof in its parking lot. CVS has water damage in the store and no power. It's closed until further notice. "It was a rough night," CVS manager Hugh Conard said. Ed Flemming, who lives on Ivy Hill Lane in Medina, was listening to a Cleveland television station's app on his phone Tuesday. "It said, 'Take cover immediately,' " he said. "I took my two dogs and went into the bathroom. I covered us with a rug." He said the storm "sounded like a freight train." The city cut down many of the trees on South Broadway Street last week in preparation for an upcoming construction project. Mother Nature took care of a few more Tuesday. Kaethe Mrochek had a large pine tree fall on her mother's car in her driveway. "That was nice to wake up to," she said. Contact reporter Bob Finnan at (330) 721-4049 or rfinnan@medina-gazette.com.