Recovery efforts were in full swing this morning in Bowling
Green following a severe thunderstorm late Sunday night.The biggest problems are concentrated on
Dunbridge Road and East Wooster Street east of the city’s Interstate 75 interchange. SEE MORE PHOTOSBrad Gilbert, director of the
County Emergency Management Agency said this morning a downburst straightline wind of 65 to 70 mph
caused the damage on Dunbridge Road.Dunbridge Road is closed to through traffic between Wooster Street
and Poe Road until further notice.Dunbridge Road is closed to through traffic between Wooster Street and
Poe Road until further notice. Access to business, industry and residences on Dunbridge Road is only
allowed from Poe Road. Access to the Meijer store is via Wooster Street from the east. Traffic cannot
access Wooster Street via Dunbridge Road from the south.All ramps at I-75 are open but no traffic is
allowed to travel east of the overpass.The traffic light at Dunbridge and Wooster is out of service
indefinitely.In the midst the storm, the exterior of a home at 332 Buttonwood Ave. caught on fire.There
were no injuries and there was no one inside the residence when it caught fire, according to a BG Fire
Division report.Firefighters responded to the residence at 11:11 Heavy fire could be seen on the outside
of the structure on the south side, according to the report.Crews later found an energized wire laying
in the trees near the fire. Power was shut down to the two-story residence.Four customers along
Dunbridge Road remained without power as of 8:30 this morning.John Stewart, assistant superintendent of
Bowling Green’s Electric Division, said one residential customer, two industrial customers and one
commercial customer were awaiting restoration of service.“It’s a slow process,” Stewart said. “The guys
are tired from working all night but we will go as long as we can. We’d like to get those four customers
back as soon as we can.”He said all of the Wood Bridge Business Park and Bowling Green State University
Research Enterprise Park customers have power. The Meijer store has power but the Meijer gas station
does not.Tony Romaker, who has lived on Dunbridge Road for 30 years, said he was watching television
when the storm hit about 10:45 p.m.“I heard the wind and thought lightning hit something when the power
went out. I went to bed and got up about 3 a.m. and saw all of the poles down.”The Romaker house is just
south of the Kellermeyer building in the business park. “I was here before everybody else,” Romaker
said.Romaker said there was minor damage to the front porch of the home. This morning he was using a
generator to keep a refrigerator and freezer running in the house. “I heard it might be Thursday before
we get power,” he said.

For a short while this morning BG police had the family leave
the house. Romaker said police took his daughter to work at Meijer about 7.BGSU closed its offices in
the Huntington Building in the business park and asked employees to call their supervisors at 10 to
check on the status of the operations. University spokesman David Kielmeyer said the building houses
offices for human resources, risk management and environmental services. Fewer than 30 people work
there.Stewart said the storm took out 15 large transmission poles, 14 of them 70 feet tall and one 75
feet tall.The damage is concentrated just north of East Wooster Street with several poles leaning or
snapped off. Part of the transmission line belongs to BG Electric and part of the line to Toledo Edison,
Stewart said.Bowling Green is getting mutual aid assistance from several other municipal electric
companies, including Wapakoneta, which BG crews helped out recently following a storm in that community.
Stewart said crews are also here from Bryan and Montpelier.Stewart said the Dunbridge Road substation
was not affected by the storm.Just to the south and west of Dunbridge Road, several trees were damaged
in the Stadium View Apartment and Carter Park.BG officials are assessing tree damage around the city,
including City Park and Oak Grove Cemetery. Assistant Municipal Administrator Lori Tretter urged
residents to be aware of and report any tree damage or electrical line problems to the police at (419)
352-1131 or the Electric Division at (419) 354-6260.According to Wood County Sheriff Mark Wasylyshyn,
there was a fire in a tree in the 13000 block of Cloverdale Road due to a power line down.