Gov. Mike DeWine declared a state of emergency for Franklin County on Aug. 13 two days after a derecho tore through Hilliard and the surrounding region with winds that topped 80 mph.

The declaration covers Hilliard. More than 25,000 Franklin County customers remained without electricity as of Thursday afternoon, according to NBC4. The governor's office said the next step is conducting damage assessments to determine the full extent of impact across affected Ohio counties.

Also Thursday, the National Weather Service confirmed in preliminary findings that an EF1 tornado struck Columbus' south side during Tuesday's storm, WOSU reported. The tornado's path ran from East Hinman Avenue eastward across Parsons Avenue, ripping the roof off Lincoln Park's Barack Community Center. An EF1 classification means wind speeds between 86 and 110 mph.

The NWS separately surveyed damage near Upper Arlington High School and determined that destruction there came from straight-line winds gusting 90 to 100 mph, not a tornado. As we reported Wednesday, the weather service had been investigating whether a tornado touched down in the Hilliard-Upper Arlington corridor.

This is the first confirmed tornado in Franklin County since an EF1 struck near Hilliard on Feb. 28, 2024.

Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther called the lack of injuries "nothing short of miraculous" at a Aug. 12, press conference with DeWine. The Columbus Division of Fire responded to more than 1,100 calls on Aug. 11, with 131 arriving almost simultaneously at the storm's peak.

"For the first time in the division's history, every unit of the Columbus Division of Fire was in service responding to calls for service to folks in the city," Ginther said at the press conference.

Winds hit 82 mph at John Glenn Columbus International Airport during the storm, Ginther said. AEP Ohio peaked at roughly 170,000 customers without power statewide, including about 110,000 in central Ohio. The utility said it plans to restore all remaining customers by Aug. 15 with crews working staggered 16-hour shifts. Out-of-state line workers arrived to help, some from Oklahoma.

Hilliard and Norwich Township sent crews to assist neighboring Upper Arlington with storm response, according to an Upper Arlington city alert.

Franklin County Emergency Management is asking residents to submit storm damage reports to document the impact and support recovery efforts. The NWS expects to release a final tornado assessment in the coming days.