Keith Durham, his wife, Jackie, and friends sat in the glow of sunshine and blue skies Sunday afternoon at the foot of a large oak tree near Minter Street in Bath.

A day earlier, a tornado ravaged their property and several other homes and businesses along S.C. Highway 421.

Mrs. Durham said she was thankful no one was injured.

"I was in Evans when everything happened," she said, adding that her car moved side-to-side as she drove across the state line to be with her family.

On Sunday, neighbors, family and friends used chain saws to cut two large oak trees. The uprooted trees fell across the Durhams' house, leaving a large hole in the roof.

"I had just remodeled the house and was planning to sell it. And no, I didn't have any insurance," Mr. Durham said.

Tony Petrolito, a meteorologist from the National Weather Service in West Columbia, S.C., confirmed Sunday that the storm that caused widespread damage in several area counties Saturday was a tornado.

"It started as an EF-0 tornado (wind speeds of 65-85 mph) in Columbia County, then crossed into Aiken County and became an EF-2 tornado (wind speeds of 111-135 mph) once it hit Belvedere and Clearwater, into Barnwell County," he said. "It was one continuous path."

He said the winds increased from 65 mph to 115 mph by the time it reached the Bath area.

At a Sunday news conference, Aiken County sheriff's officials said the worst damage occurred in the Bath area. Two brick baseball dugouts at Harrison-Caver Park were flattened by the wind.

Sheriff Michael Hunt said all Area 3 schools in Aiken County -- Byrd, Clearwater, Gloverville, Jefferson and Warrenville elementary schools, Langley-Bath-Clearwater and Leavelle-McCampbell middle schools and Midland Valley High School -- will be closed today.

School and police officials will meet today to determine school openings for the rest of the week, the sheriff said.

He also said a county curfew enacted during the storm has been lifted.

Sheriff Hunt acknowledged that at least one tree-cutting business had overcharged a customer. He also said vendors could face jail time for taking advantage of residents by price-gouging.

"We won't stand for it. You'll go to jail," he said.

Lt. Frank said electrical outages in Aiken County had been reduced from 18,000 Saturday night to 2,600 by Sunday afternoon.

In Allendale County, S.C., damage from a tornado Saturday night was heavy along U.S. 278 just north of the city of Allendale. Two mobile homes were destroyed and another rendered uninhabitable after being knocked off its foundation.

However, no serious injuries or deaths were reported.

Officials with the National Weather Service told Linda Sanders, the emergency management director for Allendale County, that the tornado had produced winds between 80 and 90 mph. The storm was a half-mile wide and caused an eight-mile-long path of destruction, she said.

Columbia County Emergency Manager Pam Tucker said all roads in the county had been cleared of debris and all county schools would be open today.

Lynn Wallace, a Georgia Power spokeswoman in Atlanta, said that as of 8 p.m. Sunday power had been restored to all but 189 customers in the company's East Region, which includes Richmond, Columbia, Burke and McDuffie counties. She said that at one point Saturday night 33,000 customers in those counties were without power.

Tim Hicks of Morris News Service contributed to this story.

Reach Timothy Cox at (706) 823-3217 or tim.cox@augustachronicle.com