Damaged Cars and Theater

To earn a January 2002 National Weather Service StormReady designation, Van Wert County, Ohio, placed a series of warning alert systems in public locations, including the movie theater (shown in photo) that was destroyed in a November 10-11, 2001 tornado outbreak which killed 35 people. Quick action by Van Wert Cinemas manager Scott Shaffer and his staff got more than 50 adults and children out of theaters in the multiplex and into safer conditions in a hallway and restrooms. Minutes later, a tornado tore off the building's roof and tossed cars into the screen and front seats where minutes earlier kids and parents had been watching a movie. No lives were lost in the theater.