Benton County hit hard by storms; Tippecanoe County spared
TIPPECANOE COUNTY, Ind. — Friday night storms caused damage in the area, but no injuries or fatalities, according to authorities.
"We were lucky," Tippecanoe County Sheriff Bob Goldsmith said Saturday morning. "We had seven downed trees last night and two so far this morning.
"That's all we have had reported or are aware of," Goldsmith said.
Benton County wasn't so fortunate.
"It's kind of a mess out there," Benton County Emergency Management Director Jason Fisher said.
"We have a wind turbine blown down," Benton County Sheriff John Cox said. "It twisted that thing to the ground."
Fisher added that another wind turbine had its blades destroyed.
As of Saturday morning, a travel advisory remained in place for Benton County, Cox said, explaining only emergency travel is allowed. Deputies are out enforcing the restrictions, too, he added.
Most of the damage in Benton County was on the east side of the county — roughly from Oxford north to the Indiana 18 and U.S. 231 area, Cox said.
Fisher described it as a line running from the southwest to the northeast.
"We do have some areas that have some damage," Cox said. "We have some houses that had their roofs blown off.
The damage in interspersed along that line, Fisher said, noting that one housing addition, Pine Run, was heavily damaged. Most of the damage was to barns, out buildings and silos.
There are downed power lines, and crews are out trying to restore power, Cox said.
"The National Weather Service is on the way to do damage assessment," Fisher said.
Storms with high winds, lightning and heavy rain moved through Indiana starting late Friday night. The storms were out of the state by Saturday morning, but high winds persisted in the Greater Lafayette area.
Chris Springer, White County Emergency Management director, was out Saturday morning assessing damage to the county.
"We've got widespread damage from southwest White County to the northeast," Springer said. "We're doing assessments. We're working with the National Weather Service."
In southwestern White County, Springer said there were calls Friday night of a house destroyed and a family found huddled in what remained of the house's basement. No one was injured, he said.
The storms killed three people in Sullivan County, south of Terre Haute on the Illinois/Indiana stateline, according to an Indianapolis Star report published Saturday.
Clinton County officials published an email early Saturday afternoon stating, "The National Weather Service has determined a tornado, classified as a F1.10, started near the Montgomery County/Clinton County line approximately two miles South of Colfax. The tornado traveled on the ground moving towards Frankfort where it lifted near the Green Lawn Cemetery."
Wind along Interstate 65 blew over a semi trailer between the Dayton and Frankfort exits, Indiana State Police Sgt. Jeremy Piers said. No one was seriously injured.
Tippecanoe County Emergency Management Director Smokey Anderson said at one time, the statewide updates his office received during the storm indicated that 107,000 customers in the state were without electricity. He also said statewide reports indicated that between 30 and 35 counties were under a tornado warning.
No tornado warning was issued for any part of Tippecanoe County, Anderson said.
Reach Ron Wilkins at rwilkins@jconline.com. Follow on Twitter: @RonWilkins2.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Benton County hit hard by storms; Tippecanoe County spared
