Indiana State Police said a tornado struck the Winchester area Thursday, leaving “a number of serious injuries.” A suspected twister as part of the storm system damaged homes and businesses in parts of Ohio and Kentucky.
“We’ve had quite a few serious injuries, but we don’t know how many. We don’t know where they are. We don’t know what those injuries are,” Indiana State Police Superintendent Douglas Carter told reporters Thursday night. told. “There’s still a lot we don’t know.”
State police announced earlier that night that they were investigating the death report, but at a news conference Carter said there were “no known deaths.”
State officials asked Indiana Task Force 1 to assist with search efforts in Winchester, about 110 miles northeast of Indianapolis, according to a post by the rescue team to X.
The team is one of 28 urban search and rescue teams in the United States sponsored by the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
“I’m upset. It’s overwhelming,” said Winchester Mayor Bob McCoy. “I heard what sounded like a train, and then I started hearing sirens.”
He said he and his wife were locked in a closet.
Suspected tornado damages Walmart store and Taco Bell in Winchester, Randolph County Sheriff Art Moistner told FOX59/CBS4.
He said movement within the county is restricted to emergency management workers only.
Forecasters are also aware of damage in and around the Lakeview, Ohio, area, and will be looking to confirm the tornado outbreak Friday, said Scott Hickman, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Wilmington, Ohio. He said he plans to investigate the area.
Many buildings in Lakeview were destroyed, said Amber Fagan, president and CEO of the Indian Lakes Area Chamber of Commerce. told ABC6 News.
“It’s an absolute disaster,” she said. “I have never seen anything like this in my life.
“Our Lakeview City Hall was torn down. Our laundromat is gone. The old plastic building was just completely torn down. Downtown, no.”
The tornado touched down near the south end of Indian Lake and affected the villages of Lakeview and Russell’s Point, said Sheri Timmers, spokeswoman for Logan County, where the villages are located.
Timmers said several people were confirmed to be injured, but their conditions were not immediately known. Evacuation centers have been opened for evacuees.
Timmers said multiple buildings in the Indian Lake area were damaged, but the full extent of the destruction is still being investigated.
It was not immediately clear whether anyone was missing in the aftermath.
“They are conducting a search right now,” she said.
In Huron County, Ohio, emergency management officials posted on Facebook that “a large and extremely dangerous tornado has been confirmed” near Plymouth, about 70 miles (120 kilometers) northeast of Indian Lake.
Emergency management officials in Delaware County, west of Winchester, Indiana, said initial assessments suggest up to half of the buildings in the small town of Selma were damaged by a potential tornado. .
“We are relieved to report that so far only minor injuries have been reported and one person was transported to the hospital for treatment,” the Delaware County Emergency Management Agency said in a news release. Approximately 750 people live in Selma.
Earlier, the storm damaged homes and trailers in the Ohio River area of Hanover and Lamb, Indiana.
The Ohio Governor’s Office said it does not have information on the number of deaths in the state.
Jefferson County Sheriff Ben Flint said the storm destroyed three or four single-family homes and four or five other structures, as well as several unoccupied campers along the river.
“We were lucky that no one was injured,” Flynt told The Associated Press in a phone interview.
Indiana State Police Sergeant Stephen Wheels said earlier that what appeared to be another tornado struck Jefferson County, damaging several homes and downing trees and power lines.
He posted photos to X of a house with its roof torn off, a house with shingles missing, and a photo of a roof the size of a baseball. Hyalite.
About 2,000 Duke Energy customers in Hanover lost power for a time during the storm, the company reported.
In Kentucky, Trimble County Emergency Management Director Andrew Stark said the storm damaged at least 50 structures, including homes.
“We are at great risk.” Stark told the Courier Journal of Louisville.
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear issued a statement announcing that a tornado touched down along the Indiana border in Gallatin and Trimble counties, causing several minor injuries.
He urged Kentuckians to keep an eye on the weather as more storms are expected across the state Thursday evening and into the night.
“It looks like there’s been some pretty significant damage, especially in the town of Milton in Trimble County,” Beshear said. “We believe there are over 100 structures that could be damaged.”
Beshear said the state’s emergency operations center was activated to coordinate the response to the storm.
Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb posted on Facebook Thursday night that the Indiana Department of Homeland Security is monitoring the current weather situation.
“The severe weather is impacting Hoosiers across the state and we have emergency responders in the affected areas,” he wrote.
The Indiana Department of Homeland Security posted on Facebook that its officials are working with local residents on the ground in Randolph County, home to Winchester, and that the state Emergency Operations Center is operating with increased staffing in response to the storm. I posted that there is.
A post on Winchester Community High School’s Facebook page said all schools in the district would be closed Friday.
Another post said the high school had electricity and was available for emergency use for people “in need of a warm and dry place.”
Large hail was also reported in parts of the St. Louis area Thursday afternoon.
There were unconfirmed reports of tornadoes in Jefferson County, Missouri, and Monroe County, Illinois, but there were no immediate reports of damage.
The National Weather Service announced on Thursday night that severe weather is expected from northeast Texas to Indiana and Ohio.
