First came the plague.

Then came the storms from heaven.

Weary residents from throughout the Akron area woke up to scenes of utter destruction Wednesday morning with trees uprooted and just about anything that wasn’t tied down tossed about like toys.

A tree toppled into a home in Green, narrowly missing a man asleep in the bedroom.

Trampolines took flight and crashed through the windows of neighbors down the street.

One man had to be rescued after the truck he was driving became suspended in mid-air by downed wires.

State Senate President Larry Obhof was hunkered in his basement as the storm hit and watched as water cascaded in after flying debris sheared off a spigot outside his Montville Township home.

A line of severe storms rumbled across the region around midnight with high winds, lightning, hail and at least three confirmed tornadoes.

One tornado was about a football field wide and stretched for about 2 miles from near East Sparta in Stark County to the Tuscarawas County line, weather officials said. With winds of around 80 miles per hour, it was strong enough to down trees and damage homes. There were no reported injuries.

A second tornado occurred in Summit County. The National Weather Service said it started in Barberton and stretched about 8 miles to Green. It was 100 yards wide and had winds of 90 mph.

The third one was the most destructive and had a long path across Medina County.

The tornado formed around 11:30 p.m. in Grafton in Lorain County and continued for some 11 miles through the city of Medina. It lasted about 10 minutes and had winds of 100 miles per hour and was as wide as a football field.

Nearly 14,000 FirstEnergy customers remained in the dark as of 9 p.m. Wednesday in Summit, Medina, Wayne, Stark and Portage counties as utility crews working alongside tree companies toiled to untangle a mess of tree limbs and power lines to restore power one house at a time.

The biggest clusters without power were in Barberton, the city of Medina, Doylestown, Akron, Green and Coventry Township.

Some could be without power for days.

But it was also a day to give thanks.

Many were grateful for their health amid the coronavirus and thankful to emerge from the wreckage of their homes unscathed.

One of the hardest hit communities was Medina, where a tornado passed just a block south of its historic square.

City officials said dozens of homes and businesses were damaged, mostly by trees toppling on structures.

One man suffered a broken leg when trees fell on top of his home on South Drive and trapped him inside. He was taken to a hospital and is expected to recover from his injuries.

Crystal Bronk said she thought her family was going to die.

Bronk was watching weather alerts on the TV when her phone went off around midnight to warn that a tornado was about to hit Medina.

She said she woke up the others in the house, including her sleeping daughter and granddaughter, to head to the basement.

They made it as far as the bottom step of the first floor when the sound of a freight train hit and everything went black.

"There were sparks flying and dust everywhere," she said.

The perfectly square home built in 1900 on South Elmwood Avenue shook and rattled.

Bronk said it felt like the floor was going to collapse into the basement.

Trees toppled on the house, shattering windows and protruding into the bedroom where her granddaughter had just been sleeping.

"You couldn’t see what was going on," she said. "We could just hear it."

The home may be a total loss.

Across the street, the tornado ripped off part of the roof of a CVS and continued to uproot trees well south and sow destruction into Wadsworth.

Tom Lempner and his wife, Bridgette, were able to get their children Adah, 12, Elijah, 10, Naomi, 6, and the family’s 7-week-old dog Lincoln into the basement before all the stately trees — two of which were over 100 feet tall — came crashing down around their Lafayette Road home.

Somehow, Lempner said, the home appears to have been spared major structural damage.

"God spared our home and our family," he said. "We were all praying in the basement. We have a lot to be thankful for."

Medina City Council President John Coyne said that given the amount of structural damage, it is a miracle no one was killed.

Coyne said the path not only spared the historic square but also missed apartment buildings in the area.

"With the COVID-19 going on, we don’t need this, too," he said.

Even Santa was not spared the wrath of the storm.

Castle Noel, the popular museum on the square dedicated to all things Christmas, was not damaged but Santa’s house was.

The home that is used on the square so kids can visit with Santa is stored by the city in barn off East Smith Road.

Medina Service Director Nino Piccoli said the roof blew off and one wall partially collapsed in the structure that is also used to store equipment for the parks department.

A full assessment of the damage to homes and businesses is continuing.

The Medina Historical Society’s McDowell-Phillips house on South Prospect Street was in the storm’s path.

Scores of trees fell in the neighborhood, including on a home next door.

Society President Brian Feron said a copper section at the top of the roof and some heavy slate tiles were ripped off.

The tiles became projectiles and sliced into the ground below.

Medina County has seen its share of tornadoes in the past, but Feron said this may be the most significant one to ever hit the city.

"This old house has weathered a lot of storms," he said. "Fortunately, it doesn’t look like any water got in from this one, thankfully."

Craig Webb can be reached at cwebb@thebeaconjournal.com.