NWS: EF0 tornado in Richmond left 2 injured, mall and nursing home damaged
RICHMOND, Ind. (WISH) — The National Weather Service on Monday afternoon confirmed an EF0 tornado touched down in Richmond Saturday, injuring two people and causing damage to the Richmond Mall and a nursing home.
According to the NWS statement, an adult and a child suffered minor injuries when they were sitting in a car at the service station at the intersection of U.S. 40 and Hayes Arboretum Road and the car’s windows were blown in. The adult and child were treated and released at an area hospital, the NWS said.
The most significant damage observed was at Richmond Mall. Several air handlers on the roof came off and blew onto U.S. 40. The tornado left the parking lot full of debris and destroyed a brick wall. In all, eight businesses inside and one store outside received damage, according to the NWS.
In a post on Facebook, the mall said it was closed as damaged is assessed and planned to set a timeline to reopen.
Witnesses told News 8’s Brenna Donnelly the exterior of the mall was in pieces Sunday morning. Several metal pieces of siding and roofing were scattered across the parking lot and strewn as far as US 40. The mall sits just south of US 40 in a very busy retail and restaurant area of the city.
Viewer Tracy Johnson shared several photos, saying the Office Max next to the mall’s JC Penney store took a lot of the damage.
Brookdale Nursing Home, 3700 S. A St., lost 5-10% of its roof and a tree was knocked down.
Full public information statement from the National Weather Service:
PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILMINGTON OH 223 PM EDT MON JUN 17 2019…
EF0 TORNADO CONFIRMED IN RICHMOND INDIANA…
LOCATION…RICHMOND IN WAYNE COUNTY, INDIANA DATE…
JUNE 15, 2019
START TIME…9:51 PM EDT
END TIME…9:54 PM EDT
MAXIMUM EF-SCALE RATING…EF0
ESTIMATED MAXIMUM WIND SPEED…85 MPH
MAXIMUM PATH WIDTH…100 YARDS PATH LENGTH…1.6 MILES BEGINNING LAT/LON…39.8214N / 84.8505W ENDING LAT/LON…39.8385N / 84.8325W *
FATALITIES…0
* INJURIES…2
SUMMARY… THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN WILMINGTON OHIO HAS CONFIRMED A EF0 TORNADO IN RICHMOND IN WAYNE COUNTY, INDIANA. THE BEGINNING OF THE TORNADO APPEARS TO HAVE OCCURRED ALONG S 37TH STREET, JUST TO THE SOUTH OF BACKMEYER ROAD, AS INDICATED BY SWIRL MARKS IN A FIELD ADJACENT TO S 37TH STREET, ALONG WITH TWO TREES SNAPPED ALONG S 37TH STREET. THE TORNADO MOVED NORTH-NORTHEAST, PRODUCING DAMAGE AT THE BROOKDALE NURSING HOME ON SOUTH A STREET. FIVE TO TEN PERCENT OF THE NURSING HOME ROOF WAS REMOVED. ONE TREE FOUR INCHES IN DIAMETER WAS KNOCKED DOWN, AND SEVERAL SMALLER LIMBS FROM TREES WERE ALSO DOWNED. THE MOST SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE WAS OBSERVED AT THE RICHMOND MALL, WHERE SEVERAL AIR HANDLERS ON THE ROOF WERE REMOVED AND ONE WAS BLOWN NORTHEAST ONTO ROUTE 40. THE PARKING LOT WAS ALSO FULL OF DEBRIS AND A LARGE STORE ON THE SOUTHWEST SIDE OF THE MALL HAD FIFTY PERCENT OF THE GLASS BLOWN IN. ON THE EAST SIDE OF THE MALL, A BRICK WALL SEVEN FEET HIGH BY THIRTY FEET LONG WAS DESTROYED, AND SOME OF THE FACADE WAS STARTING TO PEEL AWAY FROM THE ROOF. AROUND THAT SAME AREA, A GARAGE DOOR WAS BLOWN IN. OVERALL LESS THAN FIVE PERCENT OF THE ROOF OF THE MALL WAS REMOVED. ON THE INSIDE OF THE MALL, APPROXIMATELY EIGHT BUSINESSES EXPERIENCED DAMAGE, PRIMARILY FROM WINDOWS BLOWN OUT AND MERCHANDISE BLOWN AROUND.WINDS AT THE RICHMOND MALL ARE ESTIMATED TO BE AROUND 85 MPH, WHICH IS RATED AT THE HIGHEST END FOR AN EF0 TORNADO. SOME OF THE ROOF MATERIAL FROM THE MALL LANDED IN THREE TO FIVE BUSINESSES ON THE OTHER SIDE OF US 40. THOSE BUSINESSES ALSO RECEIVED MINOR DAMAGE, WITH ISOLATED WINDOWS BEING BLOWN OUT AND ALSO SOME OBSERVED DAMAGE TO SIGNAGE AND SIDING. A CONCRETE TABLE WAS MOVED SEVERAL FEET FROM ITS ORIGINAL POSITION, AND THERE WAS ALSO MINOR SMALL TREE DAMAGE. IN THE SERVICE STATION AT THE INTERSECTION OF US 40 AND HAYES ARBORETUM RD, AN ADULT AND A CHILD WERE SITTING IN A CAR WHEN THE WINDOWS WERE BLOWN IN, CAUSING MINOR INJURIES. THEY WERE TAKEN TO THE HOSPITAL, TREATED AND RELEASED. FURTHER NORTHEAST ALONG WOODSIDE DRIVE, A LARGE HARDWOOD TREE FELL TO THE SOUTHWEST ONTO A HOUSE AND ALSO A TALL METAL TELEVISION ANTENNA FELL THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION ONTO THE HOUSE. EXTENSIVE TREE DAMAGE WAS ALSO OBSERVED NEAR THE HOUSE, WITH SEVERAL TWO FOOT DIAMETER TREES BLOWN DOWN. DEBRIS FROM THE SIGNAGE OF BUSINESSES WERE SCATTERED THROUGHOUT THE PROPERTY ON WOODSIDE DRIVE. THE PROPERTY NEXT DOOR ALSO EXPERIENCED SOME DAMAGE, PARTICULARY WITH THE GARAGE BEING SHIFTED, AND A TREE LIMB WAS ALSO KNOCKED DOWN ONTO THE HOUSE. FURTHER DOWN ALONG WOODSIDE DRIVE, SEVERAL LARGE TREE LIMBS WERE DOWN. ON SYCAMORE DRIVE, ISOLATED TWO TO THREE FOOT DIAMETER TREES WERE KNOCKED DOWN. THE LAST VISIBLE DAMAGE FROM THIS TORNADO APPEARS TO BE ALONG GRAVEL PIT ROAD, WHERE AN ADDITIONAL ONE OR TWO TREES WERE DOWN.NO ADDITIONAL DAMAGE WAS REPORTED EAST OF HERE. THE NATIONAL WEATHER WEATHER SERVICE WOULD LIKE TO THANK WAYNE COUNTY, INDIANA EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT FOR THEIR ASSISTANCE IN CONDUCTING THIS STORM DAMAGE SURVEY.
EF SCALE: THE ENHANCED FUJITA SCALE CLASSIFIES TORNADOES INTO THE FOLLOWING CATEGORIES: EF0…WEAK……65 TO 85 MPH EF1…WEAK……86 TO 110 MPH EF2…STRONG….111 TO 135 MPH EF3…STRONG….136 TO 165 MPH EF4…VIOLENT…166 TO 200 MPH EF5…VIOLENT…>200 MPH
* THE INFORMATION IN THIS STATEMENT IS PRELIMINARY AND SUBJECT TO CHANGE PENDING FINAL REVIEW OF THE EVENT AND PUBLICATION IN NWSSTORM DATA.