Downed trees, power outages, tornado damage: Storms batter central Indiana

INDIANAPOLIS – For the second time this week, severe weather battered parts of central Indiana.

A powerful storm swept through several communities, leaving behind a trail of damage. Multiple storm reports indicated wind damage, large hail, flash flooding and tornadoes.

The wind gusts were significant. Eaton in Delaware County reported a gust of 100 mph, while Lapel in Madison County recorded an 87-mph gust. Other significant wind gusts were 81 mph (Danville, Hendricks County), 80 mph (Homecroft, Marion County), 79 mph (Western Madison County) and 73 mph (Greencastle, Putnam County).

Many viewers reported downed trees, branches and power lines. Some counties had travel restrictions as debris littered area roads. In our viewing area, Hendricks and Brown counties initiated orange travel watches, while Delaware County called for a yellow travel advisory.

Some schools were closed, delayed or elected for e-learning days.

Power outages remained a problem in several communities. Poweroutage.us, a website that tracks utility disruptions, reported more than 126,000 outages as of about 5 a.m. Thursday. AES Indiana reported more than 25,000 outages in its coverage area.

Other counties with significant outages included Hendricks (3,616), Hamilton (6,785), Madison (17,079) and Delaware (6.993). To the south, Jackson County reported more than 10,000 outages.

The numbers were expected to fluctuate throughout the morning as crews worked to restore service.

The first tornado warning for central Indiana was activated at 8:29 p.m. in Putnam County. From that point forward, warnings proceeded for more than two hours as the storm swept across the area.

Forecasters are confident a tornado hit, based on video and indications on radar. It’s a question of whether the storm spawned multiple tornadoes or if a single tornado bounded through multiple counties. Survey teams from the National Weather Service will make that determination.

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