SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — Multiple families in the Dayton area are figuring out not only where they're going to sleep Wednesday night, but whether or not they can rebuild their homes.
The National Weather Service confirmed a tornado hit Springfield Wednesday morning as three other tornadoes touched down in central Ohio.
The Stewart family lost almost everything they owned after the tornado hit their home.
Jon, the father, was working out early Wednesday morning, running on the treadmill when the family got an alert to take cover. Just as he and his wife ran up the stairs to get the kids into the basement, their roof started to collapse.
"As I was trying to lift the roof up to get to our 3-year-old's bedroom, the wind is taking it off of me," Stewart said.
He described the moments around 5 a.m. when it was still dark and loud while everything was happening so fast.
"My wife and my 3-year-old, she got into the bedroom before me, laid on her and that's when the tornado took all of the furniture and the walls," Stewart said.
Jon's daughter, his wife Rebecca and his 17-year-old stepson were trapped underneath what used to be their home. Springfield Fire Chief Dave Nangle told WCPO 9 News the family was lucky to be alive. Firefighters were able to get them out safely.
"The biggest problem is we were having a hard time accessing it due to the debris that was on the roadway," Nangle said.
He said the first call came in as down power lines, but minutes later, it turned into multiple calls about collapsed homes. One of them included the Stewarts' home. Jon told us everyone in his family is out of the hospital and is OK.
"My wife has a pretty gnarly bruise. I told her it's her 'saving her child' bruise man, I don't have one of those," Stewart said.
The couple spent Wednesday afternoon walking around what used to be their home, wearing borrowed clothes, looking to see what they could save. Their cars have broken windows. A metal piece went through the hood of their Jeep.
Besides a few Cincinnati Reds bobbleheads, and some stuffed animals for their daughter, they're not able to save much. That included hundreds of Dave Matthews Band posters that Jon had been saving, which were memories from the hundreds of concerts he attended.
"I look at it like this, if we got the worst of it, I think we're pretty lucky, I mean it sucks, but I pray we were the ones that got the worst of the whole thing," said Stewart.
He's also the assistant principal at an elementary school for the Springfield City School District. Stewart said the school community has been great to him and his family. He told WCPO 9 News he has a great support system. The big questions for him and his family will be through their insurance provider.
