Deadly Storm Hits Western Ohio
A suspected tornado in western Ohio proved deadly Thursday night, authorities said, part of a storm system that also unleashed apparent twisters in parts of Indiana and Kentucky and left tens of thousands of homes and businesses without power.
The one in Ohio hit near the southern end of Indian Lake, leaving at least two people "and probably more" dead and causing heavy damage in Lakeview, Midway, Orchard Island and Russells Point, Logan County Sheriff's Office Chief Deputy Joe Kpous told CBS News.
Logan County spokesperson Sheri Timmers told CBS News there were multiple injuries, adding that an RV park was among the areas impacted. It wasn't immediately known whether anyone was missing.
Multiple buildings in the Indian Lake area were damaged, Timmers said, but the full extent of the destruction was still unclear.
Amber Fagan, president and chief executive of the Indian Lake Area Chamber of Commerce, said the village of Lakeview was "completely demolished," adding that homes, campgrounds and a laundromat were hard-hit. "There's places burning," she said. "There's power lines through people's windows."
A shelter was opened for anyone displaced.
Photos posted to social media showed what appeared to be extensive residential damage in Indian Lake.
In Ohio's Huron County, emergency management officials posted on Facebook that there was a "confirmed large and extremely dangerous tornado" near Plymouth, some 75 miles northeast of Indian Lake.
Indiana hit hard
At about the same time the apparent tornado hit the Indian Lake area, another one tore through Winchester, Indiana, some 75 miles to the west.
State officials called on Indiana Task Force One to help with search efforts in Winchester, a town of 4,700 people nearly 70 miles northeast of Indianapolis, according to a post by the rescue team on X. The team is one of 28 Department of Homeland Security and Federal Emergency Management Agency-sponsored Urban Search and Rescue teams in the United States.
"I'm shaken; it's overwhelming," Winchester Mayor Bob McCoy said. "I heard what sounded like a train and then I started hearing sirens."
He and his wife were hunkered in a closet during the twister, which hit at about 8 p.m. "I've never heard that sound before; I don't want to hear it again," McCoy said.
The suspected tornado damaged a Walmart store and a Taco Bell in Winchester, Randolph County Sheriff Art Moystner told CBS Indianapolis affiliate WTTV. Travel throughout the county was restricted to emergency management workers only, he said.
The Indiana Department of Homeland Security posted on Facebook that their staff were on scene in Randolph County, home to Winchester, working with locals, and that the State Emergency Operations Center was activated with an enhanced staffing level to respond to the storm.
A Facebook post on the Winchester Community High School page said all the schools in the district would be closed Friday. Another post said the high school had electricity and was open for emergency use for people who "need somewhere warm and dry."
Tornado Causes Damage in Indiana
To the west of Winchester in Delaware County, Indiana, emergency management officials said initial assessments suggested that up to half the structures in the small town of Selma were damaged by a possible tornado.
Earlier, storms damaged homes and trailers in the Ohio River communities of Hanover and Lamb in Indiana.
Jefferson County, Indiana Sheriff Ben Flint said storms destroyed three or four single-family homes and four or five other structures and demolished several uninhabited campers along the river.
"We were fortunate that no one was injured," Flint told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.
Gayle Liter and his wife told CBS Louisville, Kentucky affiliate WLKY-TV that their Hanover home, which they had just moved into about three months ago, was destroyed by the tornado. "Total destruction, the inside, everything," Liter said.
Sgt. Stephen Wheeles of the Indiana State Police said earlier that another suspected tornado struck Jefferson County, damaging several homes and downing trees and power lines.
He posted photos on X showing one home with its roof torn off and another missing roof shingles as well as an image of a baseball-sized hailstone.
Kentucky also impacted
In Kentucky, Trimble County Emergency Management Director Andrew Stark reported that the storms caused damage to at least 50 structures, including homes.
"We have a significant amount of damage," Stark stated to the Courier Journal of Louisville.
"It appears that there is substantial damage, particularly in the town of Milton in Trimble County," Beshear commented. "We estimate that over 100 structures may have been affected."
The state's emergency operations center was activated to oversee the storm response, according to Beshear.
