DELAWARE COUNTY (WCMH) – The Ohio Department of Natural Resources honored law enforcement and Delaware State Park ODNR staff for keeping a community safe two weeks ago on a Saturday evening in northern Delaware County.

Retired Delaware County Sheriff’s Deputy Loren Pool contacted the 9-1-1 Delaware County EMA Emergency Communications 9-1-1-Center to say he saw a funnel on the ground near Delaware State Park around 6:30 p.m on Saturday evening, August 20.

The quick-thinking dispatcher sounded the tornado warning sirens, even though there was no tornado warning in effect. The storm spun up underneath a thunderstorm that had no evident rotation. These spin-up tornadoes are extremely hard to detect by Doppler radar because the storm itself is not rotating. Yet occasionally a small vortex-in this case, an EF0 tornado with 75 mph winds-develops in the lowest levels along a wind-shift boundary or warm front and falls just underneath the radar beam for a short time.

Although the sound of tornado sirens blaring in northern Delaware County caused some confusion initially, Acting Director of the Delaware County EMA Sandy Mackey says it was the right call, because the information came from law enforcement and was corroborated by ODNR workers at Delaware State Park.

“He had to make the decision and make the decision quickly, and he did the right thing, and we are very proud that he did that,” said Mackey.

After the brief storm blew through the park and some nearby backyards just to the south, after crossing US 23, ODNR teams cleaned up the tree damage–a few boats were dinged up, too–in time for the Ironman Triathlon, which went on the next day without a hitch. Thousands of participants and spectators attended the event, and Mackey said it was fortunate the storm hit on the day before the park would have been filled with campers and athletes.

Director James Zehringer says the decision to sound the alarm was the right call, and he handed out special honors late last week at a small ceremony held at Mount Gilead State Park on September 1, at an event recognizing state park upgrades.