Authorities in Indiana said they were working to confirm reports of deaths from tornadoes that were part of a storm system that also spawned suspected tornadoes in parts of Ohio and Kentucky on Thursday, damaging homes and businesses.
The east-central Indiana city of Winchester suffered storm damage, according to Indiana State Police, who were working to confirm the number of deaths reported to them.
Joseph Nield, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Indianapolis, said the tornado likely caused significant damage to the Winchester area based on radar data and reports from storm spotters and local officials.
“This appears to be the most severe damage that has been reported to us,” he said.
A Facebook post on the Winchester Community High School page said all schools in the district will be closed Friday. Another post said the high school had power and was open for emergency use by people “in need of a warm and dry place.”
Forecasters are also aware of damage in the Lakeview, Ohio, area and across the region, and are planning to do more damage to the area on Friday, said Scott Hickman, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Wilmington, Ohio. A survey is conducted to confirm the presence of a tornado.
Amber Fagan, president and CEO of the Indian Lakes Chamber of Commerce, told ABC 6 News that many buildings in Lakeview were destroyed.
“It’s pure devastation,” she said. “I’ve never seen anything like this in my life. “Our Lakeview municipal building was torn down. Our laundry is gone. The old plastic building has just been completely demolished. Downtown, the situation is dire. “
A spokesperson for the Logan County Emergency Management Agency confirmed the occurrence of the tornado. She said there were no confirmed reports of deaths or injuries. Lakeview is located in Logan County.
“A tornado struck in Logan County. The damage is still being assessed. We do have people on scene working on this,” the spokesman said before hanging up and spelling out his name to reporters.
Earlier, the storm damaged homes and trailers in the Ohio River communities of Hanover and Lamb, Indiana.
Jefferson County Sheriff Ben Flint said the storm destroyed three to four single-family homes and four to five other structures and destroyed several unoccupied campers along the river.
“We’re lucky no one was hurt,” Flint told The Associated Press in a phone interview.
Sgt. Stephen Wheeles of the Indiana State Police said a suspected tornado struck Jefferson County, damaging several homes and downing trees and power lines.
He posted photos on X (formerly Twitter) showing a house with its roof torn off, another with missing shingles, and a picture of hailstones the size of baseballs.
About 2,000 Duke Energy customers in Hanover were temporarily without power 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’ve had serious losses,” Stark told the Louisville Courier-Journal.
A tornado struck Gallatin and Trimble counties on the Indiana border, and several minor injuries were reported, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said in a statement. He urged Kentucky residents to pay close attention to weather conditions as more storms are expected across the state Thursday night and overnight.
“It does appear that there was some significant damage, particularly in the town of Milton in Trimble County,” Beshear said. “We believe over 100 structures may have been damaged.”
Beshear said the state’s Emergency Operations Center was activated to coordinate storm response.
Large hailstones were also reported in parts of St. Louis this 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 said on the 10th that severe weather may occur from northeast Texas to Indiana and Ohio on Thursday night. The National Weather Service has issued tornado warnings for parts of Arkansas, Illinois, Kansas and Missouri until 9 p.m. CDT.
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