Weather Service Confirms Second Indiana Tornado

Predawn storms that raked Indiana on Wednesday spawned two small tornadoes and destructive winds, uprooting trees, downing power lines and flattening barns and other structures.

An EF1 tornado with winds of 85-95 mph damaged the roof and porch of an Orange County home near West Baden Springs, about 50 miles northwest of Louisville, Ky., The National Weather Service confirmed. The tornado traveled 400 yards.

The weather service also confirmed that an EF0 tornado packing winds of up to 80 mph cut a half-mile track in the Harrison County town of Elizabeth, across the Ohio River from Louisville.

Elizabeth resident Teresa Campbell told WLKY-TV that the twister heavily damaged a barn and old schoolhouse on her property and stripped shingles from her home.

“Things were flying, you could hear it and it sounded like a big suction, like a vacuum just sucking,” she said.

Near the Castleton area of Indianapolis, four large pine trees lie sprawled atop the home of Charles Winternheimer.

“It could have been worse,” the 82-year-old Navy veteran told The Indianapolis Star. “I could have been sitting on the commode upstairs reading the newspaper. That’s right where a big limb punched right through the roof.”

In Greene County west of Bloomington, Emergency Management Agency Director Roger Axe said 15-20 homes in the Solsberry area sustained moderate to severe damage. The weather service blamed straight-line winds of about 70 mph.

The weather service said straight-line winds of 70-75 mph also hit near the southern Indiana city of Salem, imploding the roof of a double-wide mobile home.

Before the storms arrived, Indianapolis had set a record high for the date of 65 and Fort Wayne had a record high of 64, the weather service said. South Bend had record rainfall of 1.94 inches for the date Tuesday.