Tornadoes damage Lebanon, Kokomo buildings

Tens of thousands without power across Indiana.

Nov. 17, 2013 |
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A tornado spins Nov. 17, 2013, near Lebanon, Ind. / National Weather Service

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Jill Disis

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The National Weather Service had confirmed numerous tornadoes in Indiana this afternoon.
Photos were showing damage to commercial buildings in Lebanon and Kokomo, northwest and north of Indianapolis. The Central Indiana storms also produced winds up to 82 mph, quarter-inch hail and rain totals of nearly a half-inch in 30 minutes.
Kokomo police are asking residents to stay home and off the streets after city officials declared a state of emergency in the wake of severe storms. The city police department posted photos of buildings with roofs torn off, a destroyed bank branch and other updates on its Twitter account Sunday. City officials also took to Twitter to tell residents to clear the way for first responders.
Howard County Emergency Management crews say they’ve received reports of injuries at Kokomo Town Center, a local mall.
“We’ve got ambulances there getting them out,” said Larry Smith, director of Howard County Emergency management. “What kind of damage or how badly they’re hurt, I don’t know.”
Smith said several people were at the mall for a Christmas tree auction that was called off shortly before the storms hit.
Smith also said Kokomo emergency crews received several reports of homes that were “severely” damaged by the storm. The roof of a Kokomo fire station at U.S. 31 and Boulevard was also ripped off, he said, and the Glenndale Airport in the town was also damaged.
Lebanon was also hit by a tornado this afternoon. Andy Hall, a Whitestown resident, snapped a photo of a tornado forming on the ground about 10 minutes east of Lebanon.
“We were watching at the windows, watching to see if any tornadoes were going to form,” Hall said, when he saw a funnel cloud touch down just north of his house.
“It was moving extremely fast across the field,” he said.
Two people sustained minor injuries when an occupied semi-truck flipped onto I-65 near the Flying J Truck Stop, Lebanon police said.
At a Starbucks coffee shop in Lebanon, about 20 people were trapped inside during the storm, which left cars on their sides in the drive-through. No one was injured.

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Gov. Mike Pence said 12 counties reported either tornadoes or damage after the initial line of storms had traveled midway across Indiana.
“Significant damage has been reported in Lebanon, Indiana, and Washington, Indiana,” Pence said in a telephone interview while monitoring reports from the Emergency Operations Center of the Indiana Department of Homeland Security in downtown Indianapolis.
Pence said damage also was reported in Kokomo and Lafayette. He did not have specific details of damage.
The National Weather Service reported a tornado damaged several houses in Washington.
A teacher was injured when a storm heavily damaged Southwestern Middle and Grade School in southern Tippecanoe County, Indiana State Police Sgt. Kim Riley said.
“The gymnasium is basically gone,” and parts of the roof had been blown off, too, Riley said.
“It’s very chaotic,” Riley said.
Tree branches were blown into concrete walls there, said Riley, who went to the scene.
A small barn was blown across Indiana 28 in Montgomery County, and trees and power lines were down across the area, Riley said.
State police reported knee-deep water off I-465 exit ramp lanes on Indianapolis’ east side. The weather service reported 1¼ inches of rain fell in a 90-minute period in the Owen County town of Gosport, about five miles southwest of Indianapolis.
The worst damage in Indianapolis was reported in Irvington, where at least one building was severely damaged.
Michael Hawkes, who lives in Downtown Indianapolis, said he knew the storms were coming, but didn’t think much of it until an hour or so before they hit.
“I didn’t have any inkling of how severe it would be,” Hawkes said.
Hawkes said he watched from inside his apartment as sheets of rain hit the city.
“It was just amazed,” he said. “The rain was so thick I could hardly see the buildings in the area.”
Hawkes said the worst damage he saw in his area were some downed tree branches and flooded alleyways.

Power outages

At 6 p.m., more than 55,000 were without power, accoridng to Duke Energy. Most of those were in the Lafayette and Kokomo areas. In Marion County, Indianapolis Power & Light reported nearly 16,000 without power at 5:57 p.m.