What appears to be a tornado touched down in western Ohio Thursday night and turned out to be deadly, authorities said. It was part of a storm system that also caused an apparent twister in parts of Indiana and Kentucky, knocking out power to tens of thousands of homes and businesses.
The Ohio crash struck near the south end of Indian Lake, killing at least two people and causing major damage to Lakeview, Midway, Orchard Island and Russell's Point, the Logan County Sheriff's Office said. Chief of Staff Joe Kaps told CBS News. .
Logan County spokeswoman Sheri Timmers told CBS News there were multiple injuries, adding that an RV park was among the areas affected. It was not immediately known whether anyone was missing.
Timmers said multiple buildings in the Indian Lake area were damaged, but the full extent of the damage is still unknown.
Amber Fagan, president and CEO of the Indian Lakes Region Chamber of Commerce, said Lakeview Village was “completely destroyed,” adding that homes, campgrounds and a laundromat were heavily damaged. “Some places are on fire,” she said. “There are electric wires running through the windows of people's houses.''
Evacuation centers have been opened for evacuees.
photograph Posted Social media showed what appeared to be extensive home damage at Indian Lake.
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.
Indiana was hit hard.
At about the same time, what appeared to be a tornado struck the Indian Lake area, and another tornado struck Winchester, Indiana, about 70 miles to the west.
“We have quite a few serious injuries, but we don't know how many. We don't know where they are. We don't know what the injuries are,” Indiana State Police Superintendent Douglas Carter told reporters just before midnight. he said. Thursday. “There's still a lot we don't know.”
State police announced that night that they were investigating the death report, but Carter said at a news conference that there were “no known deaths.”
State officials asked Indiana Task Force 1 to assist with search efforts in Winchester, a town of 4,700 people about 110 miles northeast of Indianapolis, according to a post by the rescue team to X. The rescue team is one of 28 Department of Homeland Security and U.S. urban search and rescue teams sponsored by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
“I'm upset. I'm overwhelmed,” Winchester Mayor Bob McCoy said. “I heard what sounded like a train, and then I started hearing sirens.”
“I've never heard that sound before, and I never want to hear it again,” said McCoy, who said he and his wife were hunkered down in a closet during the twister, which began around 8 p.m.
A suspected tornado damaged a Walmart store and a Taco Bell in Winchester, Randolph County Sheriff Art Moisner told CBS Indianapolis affiliate WTTV. He said movement within the county was restricted to emergency management personnel only.
“Severe weather is impacting Hoosiers across the state and we have emergency responders in affected areas,” Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb posted on Facebook Thursday night.
The Indiana Department of Homeland Security said on Facebook that officials were working with local residents on the ground in Randolph County, home to Winchester, and that the state emergency operations center had been activated with increased staffing levels to respond to the storm. Posted.
A post on Winchester Community High School's Facebook page said all schools in the district would be closed on Friday. Another post said the high school had electricity and was available for emergency use for people “in need of a warm, dry place.”
Initial assessments suggest that up to half of the buildings in Selma, a small town west of Winchester in Delaware County, Indiana, were damaged by a possible tornado, emergency management officials said.
“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.
Sheriff Ben Flint of Jefferson County, Indiana, 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.
Jefferson County Sheriff's Office/Facebook
Gail Little and her wife told CBS affiliate WLKY-TV in Louisville, Kentucky, that the tornado destroyed their home in Hanover, where they moved about three months ago. “Complete destruction, inside, everything,” Little said.
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 and shingles missing, as well as an image of hailstones the size of baseballs.
Affects Kentucky
In Kentucky, Trimble County Emergency Management Director Andrew Stark said the storm damaged at least 50 structures, including homes.
“We have tremendous damage,” Stark told the Louisville Courier-Journal.
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.
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.
