Tornadoes reported near Corning

Tornadoes, veins of lightning, and inch-sized hail bore down on areas of Tehama County between 2 and 3 p.m. today.

Tornadoes were spotted in several areas, one reportedly tearing the roof off a home in Gerber.

Tehama County Sheriff’s Sgt. Rod Daugherty said he saw a funnel cloud just east of Vina.

“It was very distinctive, there was no doubt in my mind what I was seeing,” he said.

Rustin Hogan, 22 of Los Molinos, said he was coming home on Taft Street when he saw a tornado reaching from the clouds to the ground in what appeared to be the Gerber area.

“At first I wasn’t quite sure what I was seeing, but the bottom of the tornado was touching the ground and bringing up the debris from the ground and it was turning and rotating,” he said.

The National Weather Service issued a tornado warning for Corning and the areas east, including Tehama, Vina, Los Molinos and Gerber at 2:12 p.m. due to a radar indication of a severe thunderstorm capable of producing tornados.

“It means that a strong rotation has been detected in the storm,” stated the warning. “A tornado may already be on the ground or is expected to develop shortly.”

Two other reports of tornadoes or funnels were reported in Richfield and the other east of Interstate 5 between Corning and Red Bluff.

Inch-sized hail blanketed the ground and vehicles for a mile in each direction from the intersection of South Avenue and Highway 99E as lightning and thunder pealed across southeast Tehama County.

By 3:15 p.m. the tornado warning had been lifted and was replaced with a “significant weather advisory” by the National Weather Service.