CEO of business hit by tornado: ‘Try to turn it into a blessing’
YORKTOWN, Ind. (WISH) — A landspout tornado hit a single building Sunday night in Delaware County and caught some residents off guard.
County emergency management officials say tornado sirens were activated as a precaution, alerting the community to the impending danger.
The National Weather Service on Monday confirmed the landspout tornado touched down at 7:39 p.m. Sunday, lasted less than a minute, traveled 0.0668 of a mile, and measured 10 yards at its widest. Only one building was damaged.
The landspout tornado, with winds up to 60 to 65 mph, damaged a construction company. Aerial footage from AVI8TOR showed the damage to the administration building of TK Constructors, with part of the roof of its administration blown off and wooden structures resembling twisted kindling.
Mark Thurston, chief executive officer of TK Constructors, on Monday expressed relief that no injuries were reported. “That’s the most important part. All this stuff can be rebuilt.”
Thurston and his staff on Monday morning began working to clear debris and resume business operations. “We’re going to try to turn it into a blessing. Everything happens for a reason.”.
Thurston said a friend phoned him, making him aware of what was happening and of the storm’s intensity. “He said he saw sheet metal flying. I got in my truck and could actually see the funnel cloud.”
Thurston remains optimistic, stating he expects the company to be fully operational within days, including its remote locations throughout central Indiana.
The weather service said in its report, “A landspout is a tornado that does not arise from organized storm scale rotation and therefore is not associated with a wall cloud visually or a mesocyclone on radar. Landspouts often begin close to the ground and develop upwards.”
News 8’s Gregg Montgomery contributed to this report.