A severe storm that passed through Jefferson County last Wednesday and caused some residents to take cover was not a tornado, a National Weather Service spokesman said Sunday night.
Instead, the storm generated "straight-line winds" that were clocked between 70 mph and 90 mph, said meteorologist Chris Strong.
A report on the storm can be viewed at the National Weather Service's Web site at www.erh.noaa.gov.
The storm struck in mid-afternoon Wednesday, causing significant damage, especially in Ranson, W.Va.
The storm hurled tree limbs into the side of a the Church of Christ at Ranson on Chapel Drive and sent a structure used to store shopping carts in the parking lot of The Home Depot flying into a car.
Numerous homeowners in Ranson dealt with large trees uprooted in their yards and other damage.
Four cattle were killed when a barn along Kabletown road collapsed, said Barbara Miller, the county's emergency manager.
