Storm causes serious damage in downtown Mooresville; over 100,000 without power

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — More than 100,000 customers of two major central Indiana utilities were without power Wednesday night after storms with strong winds, rain and hail moved through.

Prior to the storms, the National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma, issued a tornado watch for the Indianapolis area, much of the rest of central Indiana, and southern Indiana until 2 a.m. That watch was being removed from areas the storms had already touched.

At 10:40 p.m., at the height of the outages, Duke Energy reported 87,190 customers without power. Indianapolis Power and Light reported 26,613 customers without power.

Some of the most significant damage was found in downtown Mooresville in Morgan County. Police Officer Brock A. Chipman said the storm knocked the second story off a two-story vacant building at the intersection of Main and Indiana streets. The building, a former jewelry store, was vacant. Bricks were still in the street and crews were blocking off traffic in the downtown area at 11 p.m.

Also in Mooresville, Chipman said, one woman was slightly injured and had to be rescued after power lines fell on her car.

In Whiteland in Johnson County, police tweeted shortly after 11:30 p.m., “It appears when did take a direct hit from the storm. Still too early to call it a tornado, the @NWSIndianapolis will decide that. Numerous trees down and damage being reported all throughout town. Important thing is everyone is safe! Crews are out & working to restore power.”

The National Weather Service at Indianapolis tweeted shortly after 11:30 p.m. that it would work with emergency managers on Thursday morning to determine the need for any storm surveys.

Here are reports made to the National Weather Service by Wednesday night:

• In southwest Marion County, a possible tornado was reported near West Mills Road and Mann Road.
• In Owen County, a possible tornado was reported in McCormick’s Creek State Park. Multiple trees were downed.
• In Hancock County, a tower with a small wind turbine collapsed onto a private residence located just off I-70 about a mile northeast of Greenfield. Another report in Greenfield said a tree fell on a house and damaged its roof and chimney.
• In Lawrence County, west of Bedford, damage to roofs and large trees was reported. In addition, a metal chimney at the Indian Creek Volunteer Fire Department was bent by winds that might have exceeded 75 mph.
• In Johnson County, in downtown Franklin, roof damage was reported at the Jefferson Street Pub.

During a watch, tornadoes are possible in and near the listed counties.

People should review and discuss emergency plans and check supplies and have a safe room available. People should be ready to act quickly if a warning is issued or a suspected tornado is approaching.

The counties remaining under the watch at 10 p.m. were Bartholomew, Brown, Decatur, Hancock, Henry, Jackson, Jennings, Johnson, Lawrence, Martin, Monroe, Randolph, Rush and Shelby.

Counties intially in the watch area included Bartholomew, Boone, Brown, Carroll, Clark, Clay, Clinton, Crawford, Daviess, Dearborn, Decatur, Delaware, Dubois, Fayette, Floyd, Fountain, Franklin, Greene, Hamilton, Hancock, Harrison, Hendricks, Henry, Howard, Jackson, Jefferson, Jennings, Johnson, Knox, Lawrence, Madison, Marion, Martin, Monroe, Montgomery, Morgan, Ohio, Perry, Putnam, Randolph, Ripley, Rush, Scott, Shelby, Sullivan, Switzerland, Tippecanoe, Tipton, Union, Vermillion, Vigo, Warren, Washington and Wayne.