Even customers inside a Kokomo Starbucks leveled when the twister hit were able to walk away. “Mobile homes will be destroyed, considerable damage to homes. businesses. and vehicles is likely and complete destruction is possible”, said the NWS.
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The weather service also said Indiana State Police observed a tornado northwest of the Montgomery County town of New Ross, or about 35 miles northwest of Indianapolis, and moving east.
Multiple tornadoes touched down in central in on Wednesday, tearing the roofs off apartment buildings, sending air conditioners falling onto parked cars and cutting power to thousands of people. The Republican vice presidential nominee was campaigning in North Carolina when the tornadoes hit Indiana. People are in temporary shelters, but that number could increase because they are still without power.
Colby tells the Kokomo Tribune about a dozen team members had their homes or those of relatives damaged in Wednesday’s storm.
Officials say about 1,000 homes were damaged around the city.
The storm swept across Indianapolis Friday morning, knocking down numerous trees onto homes and across streets.
The tornadoes brought down many trees and power lines across the region leading to widespread power outages.
The mayor of Kokomo says crews from elsewhere in the state are coming to the central in city to help restore power and clean up debris in the tornado-hit community.
Government workers in the City County Building downtown were alerted Wednesday afternoon to take shelter in the stairwells, before receiving the all clear to return to work about 20 minutes later. By midday Friday, utility Duke Energy reported fewer than 4,000 properties without electricity and predicted all would have power restored by Saturday night.
Red Cross Spokesperson Mark Slusher said more than 100 homes were classified as destroyed.
Brad Herold of the National Weather Service said funnel clouds had been reported earlier in the day.
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Following a survey of damage caused by Wednesday’s powerful storms that caused destruction in IN and OH, the National Weather Service has confirmed that tornadoes did touch down in Allen and Adams County.
