WEST UNION, Ohio — Early settlers referred to the tornadoes that stormed the prairies as “seeing the elephant,” in reference to the gray skies and swinging trunk of the funnel cloud as it trampled across the landscape.

Residents of Clermont, Adams, Brown and Scioto counties in Ohio faced the elephant as five of nine tornadoes hitting Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana raged across their landscape on March 2, downing thousands of trees, power lines and destroying buildings in its path. There were three fatalities because of the storms.

In Scioto County, an F-0 hit the area with winds up to 75 mph. The storm travelled a 100-yard path, taking the roof off the garage of the Otway Volunteer Fire Department, downing trees and power lines and damaging a historic covered bridge before leaving the ground.

Clermont County suffered the brunt of the damage as an F-2 storm with winds up to 160 mph destroyed everything in its 20-mile path. The storm crossed the Ohio River from Campbell County, Ky., heading in a northeasterly direction. Ohio Gov. John Kasich has declared the county a disaster area, and officials are asking the federal government to declare it, as well.

Once the county has been declared a disaster at the federal level, it will qualify for other types of disaster assistance, according to Kathy Lehr, communications director for Clermont County. Especially hard hit was the village of Moscow, which was directly in the path of the storm.

Lehr said damage to the village was estimated at around $2 million so far, but it could go higher, once a full assessment had been made of all of the structures. She said 114 buildings were damaged, more than half of those houses. Three people were killed by the storm and there were a number of injuries.

She added several townships in the county also sustained serious damage, bringing the total number of buildings damaged to 303, with total losses estimated at around $4 million.

Lehr said several farms sustained damage and hundreds of trees were knocked down by the storm. Clermont County has been on the state’s radar because of an infestation of Asian longhorn beetles, which weakens the trees, further complicating storm related damage.

Paul Berenger, conservationist with the Clermont Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD), said another concern is the impact from downed trees and larger limbs as they drift down the creeks in the county, possibly causing damage to roads and bridges and flooding low-lying areas.

“We need to keep an eye on that,” he said.

Although some trees were shattered or twisted, many that came down are still in marketable condition. “A lot of the trees that came down were cherry and walnut and still have a high enough value that landowners will be able to saw them up and market them,” he said.

Berenger added while Clermont County doesn’t do near the amount of timber business as in southeastern Ohio, the county does have a number of small woodlots with more selective timber cutting. The impact from the storm will have a big impact on woodlot owners.

Berenger added SWCD and USDA officials are assessing the damage to agricultural operations in preparation for seeking disaster assistance. They are looking at damage to fencing, conservation practices, logjams, debris in crop fields and anything that would affect agricultural operations.

Residents of Brown County had winds of about 75 mph that downed trees, and saw a funnel cloud that lost speed as it headed in from neighboring Clermont County. The storm took a divide-and-conquer approach to Adams County, as three tornadoes touched down within minutes in its northern and southern portions.

The first one touched down in the northern county, with winds up to 100 mph, and was rated as an F-1. It left a three-mile path of destruction about 1/4-mile wide. This was followed shortly by two tornadoes touching down in the southern portion of the county.

The first to touch down was rated an F-0, with winds at 75 mph; it travelled about 25 yards and left a path 75 feet wide. Shortly after that, a much more severe storm touched down, with winds up to 125 mph. It left an 11-mile path of destruction and chaos 1/4-mile, before the winds dropped back to an F-0-rated storm.

Although Adams County does not have any firm estimate, from an agricultural perspective Farm Service Agency officials estimate total damage to fences, fields, loss of livestock and timber will amount to about $1.5 million. Much of that is due to the loss of timber, with estimates running close to 500 acres of trees blown over, twisted off or otherwise damaged beyond marketability.

Roger Rhonemus, Adams County commissioner, said timber is a big industry, with many mature woodlots in the county. “We have a lot of maple, oak, poplar and ash,” he said. “We also have a number of endangered species of flora and fauna, so this storm was detrimental to certain species.”

Rhonemus lost about 10 trees, but said that was minor compared to the damage sustained by his neighbors. He said the storm travelled behind his farm, taking down a neighbor’s barn and killing about a half dozen beef cows. The storm also took the roofs off barns and scattered them across crop fields.

He said local FFA chapters have scheduled workdays to help local farmers clean up their fields in order to get ready for spring planting.

“We have a lot to be thankful for; no one in Adams County lost their life,” said Rhonemus. “I feel for these people, especially farm people. It takes a lifetime to build their operation, but it can be destroyed in five minutes.”