Tornado sirens sounded throughout campus Tuesday afternoon as high-speed winds and heavy rain whipped central Ohio and left thousands without power.

Franklin County and surrounding areas were on a tornado warning for about 20 minutes shortly before 2 p.m. as a result of rotating storm clouds, according to the National Weather Service. There were no tornados or funnel clouds confirmed in the storm as it passed through the area on its way east.

Hail and winds up to 60 miles per hour were reporting during the storm caused no serious damage on campus, university officials said.

However, several campus facilities shut down during the tornado warning.

“When there are tornado warnings, we actually have to shut down the entire facility,” said Lyndsey Gall, a transfer student who works at the Adventure Recreation Center on West Campus.

Anyone using the facility has to leave or go to the locker rooms, which serve as a tornado shelter.

The locker rooms “are like a giant cement block,” Gall said.

Other recreational facilities that don’t offer shelter from a tornado had to evacuate during the warning.

Michael Brown, a third-year in Spanish who works at Jesse Owens South, said about 20 people had to evacuate the facility from 1:55 to 3 p.m.

On the other side of campus, students at Jesse Owens North had to evacuate and go to Drackett Tower for shelter.

“We had some members join us in the dorm and stayed there the whole time,” said Jessica Barnum, a third-year in aviation and management and facility manager at Jesse Owens North.

That gym was shut down from 2:10 to 2:50 p.m.

“Some people waited outside the door for 45 minutes until we opened again,” Barnum said.

The RPAC went into a 40-minute lockdown during the warning.

“People have the option to leave or go down to our locker rooms or in the stairwells,” said Sidney Armfelt, a second-year in human nutrition and personal trainer at the RPAC.

All activities and classes at the RPAC are canceled during a tornado warning. Everyone at the gym had to go to the basement around 1:45 p.m. when there was an announcement that Franklin County was under a tornado warning, said Lexi Roman, a fourth-year in special education.

After about half-an-hour, they were allowed to go back to their classrooms, she said.

But five minutes later, Roman and her classmates heard the announcement again.

The teacher kept teaching, Roman said, but someone came and sent the class back to the basement for another 15 to 20 minutes.

“It felt dumb because we were wasting time, but I guess it makes sense,” Roman said. There are “no TVs or anything down there, so you were just sitting and waiting. You had no idea about what was going on outside.”

Power outages were also reported throughout the day.

In Franklin County, 2,480 AEP customers lost power around 3 p.m. Tuesday, according to the company’s website.

A tornado watch remained in effect for Franklin County until 4 p.m. Tuesday.

Chris Burkett contributed as a reporter to this story.