The Dayton Tornado Outbreak: Five Years Later!

The former Dayton shopping center on North Dixie Drive after a powerful tornado destroyed it in May 2019.

Deadly tornadoes hit Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kentucky and Texas. Again, we give billions to Israel while our own country is dealing with crumbling infrastructure due to natural disasters like tornadoes.

Many of these Republicans who vote against funding the government and assistance for some of America's less fortunate are willing to give billions to a foreign nation engaged in an illegal act of genocide. Same with Democrats. They claim they want to protect democracy but endorse a fascist government sworn to being an ethnostate on our taxpayer dime.

When will American lawmakers come to their senses and start focusing on the needs of Americans and not Israelis?

Over the weekend, the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex was hit with a series of destructive Ef2 and Ef3 tornadoes. The May 25–26 severe weather outbreak killed at least 18 people in total, including seven in Texas, two in Oklahoma, eight in Arkansas, and one in Kentucky. At least 14 of these deaths were due to tornadoes.

Today we mark the five year anniversary of the Dayton tornado outbreak. 

I remember working at my previous employer on third shift when the word got out that a tornado emergency was issued. The powerful Ef3 tornado formed around Brookville.

It quickly picked up speed and became an Ef4. The tornado ravaged through Clayton, Trotwood, Harrison Township, Dayton and Riverside. It restructures around the Wright Patterson Air Force Base and quickly became an Ef3. It continued to ravage through Riverside, Bath Township and Beavercreek. 

The outbreak also affected St. Mary's, Troy, Vandalia, Jamestown, Huber Heights, West Milton, Celina and Kessler. 

Widespread major damage to numerous homes, businesses, apartments, industrial buildings, and other structures occurred throughout the Dayton metro. Remarkably, no direct fatalities occurred in the Dayton area, though at least 166 people were injured. May 27 was the most active day for tornadoes during the outbreak sequence, with a total of 59 confirmed tornadoes.

Gov. Mike DeWine in his first term as governor of Ohio had declared a state of emergency for about 40% of Ohio's counties. He asked then president Donald J. Trump for federal assistance for cleanup and rebuilding of the communities affected.

Today the community is still the same. Dayton lost a grocer, numerous apartments, homes, businesses and scenery. 

Despite striking at night and producing major damage in a densely-populated urban area, remarkably, this tornado did not result in any direct fatalities. This was likely because most Dayton area residents heeded the warning issued as the tornado approached the city, and took shelter well before the tornado struck. In addition, only a small segment of EF4 damage was observed along the path, and was largely confined to a wooded area that was impacted. 166 people were injured by the tornado, however. In September 2019, the Montgomery County coroner ruled that an elderly Trotwood woman's death was caused in part by trauma from the tornado. She had been in poor health, and was trapped in her destroyed home following the tornado. However, her death was not officially listed as a direct tornado fatality in the National Climatic Data Center database. The tornado was the strongest to strike Ohio in nine years, and the first violent tornado to strike Ohio since an EF4 tornado hit Millbury, Ohio on the night of June 5, 2010. It was also the first violent tornado to occur in the month of May in three years.