When the tornado touched down in Wood County late on a warm June evening, no one could have predicted that it would become the most devastating Ohio twister in the last 10 years.

But the warning signs were there, meteorologists say.

The tornado, which reached ground at 10:30 p.m. on June 5, 2010, started as an EF0 storm, a weak tornado with winds between 65 and 85 mph.

What happened in the next 14 minutes, however, as the tornado grew into an EF4 strength with winds up to 200 mph, made it the state's most destructive twister in the last 10 years, according to a Dayton Daily News analysis of data from the National Centers for Environmental Information.

“The environment in northern Ohio on that night was an incredible tornado environment,” said Seth Binau, meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Wilmington. “That’s the reason that storm grew to be such a monster on that day.”

The Wood County tornado, was born out of a super cell thunderstorm, which gave it lots of power to draw from, said Rich Wirdzek, meteorologist for WHIO-TV Channel 7,

“It was essentially attached to the inflow and outflow of the storm,” Wirdzek said. “That’s kind of the engine of the storm, the highest winds. And that’s how that tornado was able to ratchet up and generate and keep growing and growing.

“It was perfect conditions.”

Those conditions happen most frequently in Ohio in June.

During the 10 years from 2005 through 2014, the newspaper’s analysis found, June had 1,807 thunderstorm wind events, by far the most of any month. Those thunderstorms ended up creating 46 tornadoes, including the one in Wood County that killed seven people – all of the tornado deaths during the 10 years – and injured 28.

After touching down east of Perrysburg and north of the Ohio Turnpike on a Saturday evening, the tornado headed east northeast, growing into an EF3 storm with winds between 136 and 165 mph.

In its wake were homes, government buildings and a school.

Irwin Welling, 87, lived in one of the homes in the first subdivision struck. He later died of his injuries.

The tornado moved across the Toledo Executive Airport and destroyed the Lake Township Administrative and Police Department building, claiming another victim when 20-year-old Bailey Bowman attempted to run from her car to the police station.

“She had left her vehicle along with her boyfriend and child to seek refuge in the police station,” the event narrative in the national storm event data reads. “She was caught outside and was reportedly killed by flying debris.”

At the township police station, six police cruisers and one emergency response vehicle were destroyed. The ambulance was found more than 1,000 feet away. One police cruiser was found “wrapped around a large tree,” according to the narrative.

Lake High School, unoccupied when the tornado hit shortly after 10:30 p.m., suffered a “direct hit.”

Kathleen Hammitt, 56, was driving on Ohio 795 near the school when she was struck and killed by flying debris. Her daughters, following in another car, sustained only minor injuries from the debris, though the car was destroyed.

The tornado proceeded into a nearby subdivision, where 47-year-old Ted Kranz was in the basement of his home with his family, including his daughter Katelyn, the Lake High School valedictorian. Katelyn was scheduled to give a speech the next day at the graduation ceremonies at the high school.

According to news reports, Kranz went upstairs to turn on a generator in the garage to keep a sump pump working, and to get a family dog.

He was killed by flying debris.

The tornado strengthened to an EF4 with winds from 166 to 200 mph as it approached Main Street on the north side of Millbury. More than a dozen homes were destroyed in that area, including the home of Beth and Scott Swartz.

The Swartz family had just returned from a wedding and were still up, watching television for the weather updates.

“They saw that it was getting pretty scary-looking,” Beth said. “I was up in the laundry room thinking ‘I’ll just wait it out up here,’ because we get the alarms all the time.”

But the family also had a police scanner running, and they didn’t like what they were hearing.

“They were calling out the school’s been hit,” she said. “We live about 2 or 3 miles away from the school. So we thought, we better get down to the basement.

“Then they called out a couple other roads close to us, and we were in the path of the tornado.”

Beth, who has MS, said she can’t walk, so she sat on the stairs and slid down to the basement. Ten seconds later, she said, the power went out.

“Then we looked up from the basement stairs and could see stars. So we knew everything was gone.”

Beth is thankful their house had a basement because moving to an interior bathroom or closet wouldn’t have saved them.

“Absolutely not,” she said. “Everything was gone. We had the sub-floor down, and that was it, literally.

“If I had stayed in the laundry room I would have gotten tossed in the backyard, and probably not been here.”

Two houses down, the tornado killed 36-year-old Mary Walters, her 4-year-old son Hayden, and seriously injured Ryan Walters, 37, who died two days later. Swartz said the Walters’ had a basement, but she didn’t know if they had made it down there.

The tornado moved into neighboring Ottawa County, destroying 11 more homes and injuring two.

In all, the tornado — one of four in Ohio that were part of the same weather system, according to the storm events records — traveled close to nine miles on the ground and left a damage path that was up to 400 yards wide. Seven people died, at least 28 were injured and more than 70 homes destroyed. Property damage was estimated at $102 million.

Beth Swartz said her family is “very cautious now.”

When we rebuilt our house we put a room in our basement, and if there’s bad weather at all, we’ll just go ahead and head down there,” she said. “It’s a piece of mind type thing.”

She has some other advice: Make an emergency kit with medications, IDs, Social Security Cards and birth certificates and keep it in the basement or take it with you.

“It’s very difficult to get back, and you don’t necessarily think of a lot of that stuff,” Swartz said.

The most important thing, she said, is pay attention to the weather.

In a small community, tragic events endure, maybe forever.

Lake Local School District Superintendent Jim Witt and his family were close to the Kranzes. Their sons played baseball together and were in the same graduating class.

“They are just a terrific, terrific family,” he said.

On Tuesday, June 8 — three days after the devastating storm — graduation ceremonies for Katelyn’s class were held at Owens Community College in Perrysburg. After receiving her degree, Katelyn was overcome with emotion, and an image of her struggling to hold back her tears was captured in an Associated Press photograph.

The image and photographs of the devastation are part of the memories in Millbury that won’t soon fade.

Even safety drills at the high school have taken on new meaning.

“I think we take drills around here more seriously,” Witt said. “I think we take warning signs around here more seriously. And no matter what the occasion that rises up, whether it’s any kind of safety issue, we don’t say it won’t happen to us, because we know that it can.”

Basements and dedicated storm shelters are the safest places to ride out a tornado or other severe weather event, but what if you don’t have one?

Both Wirdzek of WHIO and Binau of the National Weather Service in Wilmington say to head to an interior room on the lowest floor of your house.

A bathroom is good because it’s partially protected by pipes, Wirdzek said.

“Many times, if these buildings are within the path of something like that, what does still stand is some of those interior rooms,” he said. “Get somethingto protect your head. And just hope to God you don’t get the full brunt of it.”

In an EF4 or EF5 tornado, with winds of at least 166 mph, Wirdzek said, “survival above ground if you get a direct strike is usually not possible.”

“If you know something is coming, and you’ve got enough time, find somebody next door or down the street,” he said. “Find somewhere you can find shelter.”

But it’s tricky, Binau said, and it’s best not to get in your car.

“When a tornado is approaching, you’re not going to know by looking at it whether it’s an EF4 or EF5 or EF2,” Binau said. “The size of it, you might make an estimate and you might be right, but you might be wrong.”

The best thing to do is get as low to the ground as you can and put as many walls as possible between you and the storm, he said.

“If you’re watching TV, and they say this is one’s a monster. It’s a half-mile wide. There’s confirmed terrible damage with this storm, and you get the sense that it’s a higher level tornado, you have to make the decision whether you can reach a stronger shelter in a short amount of time.

“Typically that’s not advised. Because getting in your car presents a whole list of problems in terms of traffic jams. You misjudge the path of the tornado, the speed of the tornado.

“Who knows? You get in your car and drive a half a mile and you get yourself in a traffic jam, well then, you left yourself with no protection at all. I’ll take a home over an automobile any day of the week.”