> SOUTHERN INDIANA —
As the storm clouds rolled into the area Tuesday, mother nature seemed to have her eye on Veterans Parkway in Clark County.
“It was crazy in here,” said Ron Trotter, a host at the Tex-Mex eatery Chuy’s, which is just off the parkway near Walmart.
There were about a dozen customers and employees in the restaurant that had to take cover as the storm rolled through, he said.
“The doors flew open,” he said. “It was really loud.”
The National Weather Service confirmed that it was an EF-0 tornado that hit the area, packing winds of around 75 miles per hour.
The gusts came in so hard that cars in the parking lot were moved out of their spaces and one was found overturned near the area, said Clarksville Police Department Chief Mark Palmer. In one display of the storm’s power, an awning was ripped off a building and shot into the fender of a parked car like a javelin, Palmer said. Nearby, an air conditioner was blown off the roof of a building. No injuries were reported.
Just to the east of there, near Hamburg Pike, Jeffersonville officials reported damage at the Peterbilt trucking facility. Two truck trailers, which were not attached to semis at the time, were blown over, said Jeffersonville Fire Department Chief Eric Hedrick.
Power lines were also blown over at the facility onto a semi truck.
“There is some other damage in that area, cosmetic stuff,” Hedrick said. “We dodged the majority of the storm.”
Elsewhere in Jeffersonville, damage was reported at Armstrong Farms subdivision where the roof of a barn was torn off and a partially built house frame collapsed, said Les Kavanaugh, director of Clark County Emergency Management.
The storms raced through the area ahead of a cold front which is supposed to drop temperatures down to the mid 30s today. The tornado touched down at 11:06 a.m. Tuesday. The weather service said It then skipped over an area and came back down on a subdivision to the east, with damage occurring along Belmar Drive and Meadows Drive, as well as at the intersection of Kingsfield Street and Crown Court. It took down several fences, with evidence of cyclonic circulation, according to the NWS. It lifted again before coming back down on Armstrong Road in Jeffersonville and finally wrapping up.
The length of the tornado was 1.9 miles and its path had a width of 30 yards, the NWS said.
Before the storm hit Clarksville and Jeffersonville, Floyd County was under the gun.
East Riley Road in Floyds Knobs received some storm damage with trees and power lines down. There were also roofs blown off some buildings. Officials have requested the NWS to send a representative to survey, said Ryan Houchen, a firefighter/EMT with the Lafayette Township Fire Protection District.
Floyd County Sheriff Darrell Mills confirmed a garage was damaged near Paoli Pike but said that was the extent of the damage.
“We were pretty fortunate,” Mills said. “We just had minimal damage.”
AT THE SCHOOLS
Erin Bojorquez, supervisor of communications for Greater Clark County Schools, said Utica Elementary School had some minor roof damage and a storage container was blown about 100 feet from its original position.
Monty Schneider, superintendent for West Clark Community Schools, said students were kept safe as the line hit.
“It’s an unusual time of year to have these kinds of things, but we got kids in the hallways and everything during the tornado warnings, but that’s just the typical procedure we follow,” Schneider said.
Bill Wiseheart, director of facilities for the New Albany-Floyd County Consolidated School Corp., said Highland Hills Middle School and Greenville Elementary experienced power outages that lasted about an hour.
“I think we did what we’ve been trained to do and fortunately, there was no damage to any of our facilities,” he said.
He said schools followed the regular procedures of their tornado drills and took students to safe places.
Just after the storm hit, Duke Energy had reported more than 2,600 power outages in both counties. Those numbers were gradually improving as the day went on, with less than 700 reported outages by 3:30 p.m.
— Staff Writer Jerod Clapp and Assistant Editor Chris Morris contributed to this story.
Clark County
Related Photos
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Teresa Dorman photographs a partially built home in Jeffersonville at the Village at Armstrong Farm that was flattened by a storm Tuesday morning. Staff photo by C.E. Branham
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The roof of a barn on Armstrong Farm in Jeffersonville was partially torn off by a storm that moved through the region Tuesday morning. Staff photo by C.E. Branham
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Phantom Fireworks manager Darren McKinley surveys damage to his store following a storm that struck Clarksville Tuesday morning. Several large air conditioning units were blown from the roof of the store. Staff photo by Kevin McGloshen
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Vectren employees check gas lines at a shopping center in Clarksville on Tuesday morning following a storm at blew air conditioning units from the roof of Phantom Fireworks. Staff photo by Kevin McGloshen
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A fence was torn apart Tuesday morning during a storm that struck near Walmart along Veterans Parkway in Clarksville. Staff photo by Kevin McGloshen
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A storage building was blown over behind Utica Elementary School. Photo provided Greater Clark County Schools
Discussion
Tornado verified: Cars moved from parking spots in Clarksville, building flattened in Jeffersonville
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