Source: NWS Indianapolis / Indianapolis National Weather Service
STATEWIDE — Friday’s storms had 10 tornadoes that caused severe damages and five deaths across central Indiana. Governor Holcomb declared a state of emergency for Johnson and Sullivan Counties, the hardest hit on Friday.
Three people are confirmed to have died in Sullivan County. Two campers that died were discovered Saturday at McCormick’s Creek State Park in Spencer, Indiana.
Johnson County had nobody that was hurt, but at least 15-20 homes were destroyed says the Whiteland Fire Department Chief Eric Funkhouser.
Now, the National Weather Service is looking through the debris to piece together just how bad Friday’s storms were.
Meteorologist Jason Puma says, “The strongest of the storms were in Sullivan County where we estimated the peak winds to be as high as 155 mph – that falls into the EF3 category.”
The other tornadoes, ranging from EF0 to EF2, were reported in Clinton, Howard, and Johnson Counties.
Puma says the threat isn’t over as more storms could come later into the week.
“Tuesday looks like it is a similar looking pattern as the system goes through. That doesn’t necessarily mean it will play out like [it did Friday], but this is the typical time for severe weather systems. It is raising some eyebrows and we’re going to be watching it closely.”
He urges everybody to keep an eye on their weather services to stay updated, “…That will be another day that we need to be weather aware and be ready to put our action plans into place should weather warnings be issued,” Puma said.