Kokomo Mayor Greg Goodnight said that many trees were knocked down and that power was out in large parts of the city.
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Commissioner Wyman said during Wednesday’s press conference that city and county workers and residents already had begun the long clean-up process and are on the path to recovery. Weather spotters report seeing a funnel cloud in the area. A temporary state of emergency has been declared for Kokomo and Howard County.
The county has issued a state of emergency.
Utility companies reported more than 39,000 customers were without power Wednesday evening.
A maintenance worker at a central IN apartment complex says half of the buildings don’t have roofs following tornadoes that hit the area.
“It’s insane. It’s a madhouse”, said Mitchell Carlson, a maintenance technician who witnessed the disaster. He added that the complex has 16 buildings and “probably eight of them don’t have a roof”. “We are relieved to report all partners (employees) and customers from the Starbucks store at United States 35 & SR 22 are safe.We will continue to support our store partners and local authorities in any way we can”. Falling tree limbs and air conditioners damaged 20 to 30 cars, he said.
Indiana University Kokomo has canceled all campus events due to the severe weather. Indianapolis public education officials delayed sending school children home on buses for almost two hours, waiting until the weather cleared before dismissing the students, the school district said.
The National Weather Service issued a tornado watch Wednesday evening for a large swath of central IN, including the Indianapolis area, where there were reports that a second tornado had touched down.
Meteorologist Dave Tucek said a tornado moved across the city Wednesday afternoon.
Gov. Mike Pence said he would be touring storm-damaged Howard and Montgomery counties on Thursday to assess the damage.
Law enforcement also confirmed a sighting of the same tornado reported east-northeast of downtown Indianapolis on Interstate 70.
“I was on the roof when I got the tornado warning alert and I looked around and was like, there’s no tornado”, said Mobley.
The last warning texts were sent at 9:15 p.m.by the National Weather Service in Indianapolis. He also says their schools didn’t suffer any damage. A Starbucks is destroyed and a Kokomo radio station is reporting substantial damage to Markland Mall.
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Governor and Republican vice presidential nominee Mike Pence, who abruptly left the campaign trail in North Carolina to return to in, said eight funnel clouds were confirmed and three touched down during what he called a “very tough day of weather”.
