'It's a very rough night': High winds, minor tornado cause heavy damage in Troy

Jan. 13--High winds and two weak tornadoes have caused heavy damage in Miami County. The National Weather Service should be conducted a survey that determined that EF0 tornadoes touched down in Troy and Fletcher.

The majority of the damage was confined to the central area of Troy, according to Miami County dispatchers, and they said that it would be best if people avoided the area due to structural damage to businesses.

There have been no reports of injuries, according to dispatch records.

A Troy police officer told our crews that roofs have been reported blown off, and there are reported natural gas leaks. However, dispatchers said that no gas leaks have been confirmed.

One report of a scent of natural gas came after a tree uprooted around Dellwood Drive and Kirk Lane, according to dispatch records, and crews were in the area trying to confirm whether there was a leak.

North Market Street and East Staunton Road are closed near their intersection due to a tree down in the road, knocking down power lines.

A telephone pole is down in the 5800 block of state Route 571, according to the Frontier phone company, and the road would be closed for about three hours as a crew comes to repair the damage.

Debris has been reported in the roadway in the 100 block of West Main Street in Troy.

Video below from Facebook user Haley Simon shows heavy amounts of rubble in the road.

We have multiple crews in the area and we are working to survey damage and learn more about the storms in the area.

One of our photographers spoke to Michael Close, an insurance agent who said that he is a resident of Troy.

Close said that he had been visiting his clients in the downtown area, checking to make sure they were all right and that they had a place to stay.

He said that earlier in the night, he helped a friend rescue cats from a damaged building, and talked about how strong the smell of natural gas had been in the downtown area.

He also said that this was a hard night for everyone. "Downtown Troy's always been a sanctuary," he said. "[...] And everybody in town knows that." It felt strange, he added, to know they're maybe not that safe.

"It's a very rough night. For everybody," he said.

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