Authorities in Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky on Friday began to survey the immense damage inflicted by a series of suspected tornadoes that ripped across the Midwest overnight, leveling homes, killing at least three people and injuring dozens, officials confirmed.
Logan County Sheriff Randy Dodds said at a news conference Friday that suspected tornados killed at least three people when it hit the Indian Lake and Orchard Island communities, about 70 miles northwest of Columbus, Ohio. In Indiana, 38 people were injured and many homes and businesses were destroyed. And while only minor injuries were reported, suspected tornadoes damaged over 100 buildings in northern Kentucky.
In total, the weather service recorded more than 670 reports of severe weather across 12 states Thursday, including 500 hail reports. At one point during the afternoon, the National Weather Service had 16 simultaneous tornado warnings in effect – the seventh most for any day in March since 1986, said Daryl Herzmann, a weather analyst with the Iowa Environmental Mesonet at Iowa State University.
The tornadoes were stirred up by powerful storms that had dropped baseball-sized hail across the Plains and Midwest regions earlier this week. The storms snarled traffic, grounded flights and closed government buildings and entire school districts as they moved east over several days.
On Thursday, large hail was reported in Missouri and in parts of Arkansas, where a suspected tornado is believed to have hit Hot Springs Village, a retirement community about 40 miles southwest of Little Rock. Unconfirmed reports of tornadoes were reported in Jefferson County, Missouri and Monroe County, Illinois.
‘Someone else’s roof is in my kitchen’
Searches were ongoing in Logan County Friday morning and, because of the severity of the damage, heavy equipment was being used to lift large piles of rubble, said Dobbs at a Friday news conference.
“It’s going to take a long time,” Dobbs said, adding that many areas were inaccessible to first responders overnight due to gas leaks and downed power lines. More than 20,000 utility customers were without power, according to a database maintained by USA TODAY.
Tornado touchdowns also were reported in other parts of Ohio. A half-mile-wide tornado was reported on the ground in Huron County by that county’s emergency management agency with damage to homes and structures, according to the weather service in Cleveland. Closer to Columbus, a middle school and many houses were damaged by fallen trees and electrical transmission towers in Delaware County.
The storm caved in the roof of Brian Ogrydziak’s garage, trapping his car under rubble. Ogrydziak had just arrived home when the potential tornado hit.
“The car was in that garage maybe 15 minutes,” Ogrydziak told the Columbus Dispatch, part of the USA TODAY Network.
“Someone else’s roof is in my kitchen,” said Katie Sprinkle, who weathered the storm with her husband and two kids, ages 9 and 11. The kids wore bike helmets to protect themselves from falling debris, and her husband placed an overturned canoe over them. The family could hear windows breaking. It sounded like an explosion, Sprinkle said.
Though shaken up by the storm, Sprinkle was in good spirits as she stood on her lawn talking to neighbors and surveying the damage. Neighbors stopped by to check in on each other and offer help. No one in the subdivision had been hurt, to her knowledge.
“It’s just stuff,” Sprinkle said, looking back at her house.
Officials in Indiana report 38 people injured, no deaths in tornadoes
Winchester Mayor Bob McCoy in a Friday news conference said 38 people were injured in a suspected tornadoes ravaged Delaware and Randolph counties in central Indiana. Two were in critical condition; no deaths were reported.
“Praise the lord for this … because it could have been really bad,” he said. Twenty-two homes were totally destroyed and 110 were heavily damaged.
The mayor said he and his family took refuge in a closet when tornado sirens began to sound in the town 70 miles northeast of Indianapolis.
“I’m shaken; it’s overwhelming,” McCoy said in a news conference Thursday night. “I was just stunned because I heard what sounded like a train … and then my wife got a text from a friend … her parents live down the road and their house was gone.”
Indiana State Police Superintendent Douglas Carter said roads were closed near areas that were devastated by the storms and that only residents would be allowed in. A reunification center was established for families and the Red Cross has begun to assist many. The governor also deployed Indiana Task Force One, a federally sponsored Urban Search and Rescue team, to help with search efforts.
“The wrath of this really begins today when people realize the magnitude of the destruction of their homes and of their livelihoods,” Carter said.
Dozens of buildings damaged in Kentucky; minor injuries reported
In Kentucky, Trimble County Emergency Management Director Andrew Stark confirmed a tornado had touched down in the town of Milton, just south of Madison, Indiana. Stark said at least 50 structures, including homes were damaged.
“We have a whole bunch of damage,” he said.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said a confirmed tornado in Trimble and Gallatin counties, and a possible tornado in Carroll County only resulted in “a couple of minor injuries” with no reports of fatalities or missing persons.
“We are going to work to do everything we can to help those impacted – and we think there are over 100 structures that are potentially damaged,” Beshear said in a statement shortly after 6 p.m. Thursday. “Our job is to make sure that no Kentuckian is alone, especially in these difficult times.”
Contributing: Associated Press; Columbus Dispatch; Louisville Courtier Journal
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