Tornadoes tore through parts of IN on Wednesday, injuring more than a dozen people and causing widespread damage – including to a Starbucks that was leveled while a man recorded with his cellphone, according to WXIN.
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No serious injuries or deaths were immediately reported.
Frontman Gene Simmons tweeted that the band’s show in Toledo, Ohio, was stopped briefly Wednesday night during a tornado warning.
Several tornadoes plowed through central IN on Wednesday, demolishing numerous homes and a Starbucks cafe IN the town of Kokomo and cutting off power to thousands of Indianapolis-area residents, but no serious injuries were reported.
The National Weather Service issued a preliminary rating of EF-3 for the Kokomo tornado.
“The tornadoes that ripped through IN left a trail of damage to our system, primarily IN Kokomo”, stated Chris Lange, Duke Energy’s storm incident commander.
He says some people went into the arena to seek shelter until the storm passed.
And then Wednesday afternoon’s storm rolled through the area – the first of eight tornadoes to touch down in the state.
Thanks in part to the Everbright system there were only minor injuries from the storms. He was on the phone until midnight talking to some of them about the damage and response.
The company has restored service to more than 41,000 customers since the storm hit, according to a Thursday Duke Energy press release.
He says five separate weather service survey crews are scouring areas with storm damage in central and northern in to determine if tornadoes struck there.
But Kokomo, a city of 45,000 people about 60 miles (100 km) north of Indianapolis, appeared to be the epicenter of storm damage, including a flattened Starbucks outlet and numerous houses left splintered or with roofs and walls torn away. Authorities say between 15 and 20 people suffered injuries but none were severe.
“And the one thing I’ve found with all Hoosiers is: We stand and fight”, he said.
“It is truly remarkable that there are such a few number of injures or worse in the wake of this storm, given the fact that it literally struck Howard County virtually at shift change in the afternoon, in a great manufacturing town and about the time kids were getting out of school”, he said. Near Mahon, IN – Allen Coun Republican Vice Presidential Candidate Governor Mike Pence took a break from the campaign trail to visit residents of his home state who were impacted by the twisters. One that hit Kokomo has been determined to be an EF3 with 165 miles per hour winds.
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Indiana State Police spokesman Capt. David Bursten says about a dozen people were injured, but none seriously.
