'Just lucky': Residents tell of close calls after tornado rips through Johnson County
GREENWOOD, Indiana — With the sky roaring, Adam Stoner migrated to the lowest room of his home while his wife went to grab a glass of water.
The couple heard no warning sirens, he said, but then Jackie Stoner saw the tornado spinning through a window.
She “did a movie-quality dive into the theater room and then it hit and blew the front doors open,” Adam Stoner said.
Indiana weather: 6 times tornadoes have caused damage in Johnson County
The couple rode out the worst of Sunday afternoon's storm there as winds ripped bricks off the façade of their Center Grove area home and damaged their roof and outdoor antique furniture. In their neighbors’ yard was a flipped RV and a demolished barn and shed.
Many northern Johnson County residents saw damage to their homes late Sunday afternoon as a tornado blew through a four-mile area bounded by Interstate 69 and Indiana 135 between Smokey Row Road and Stone’s Crossing Road, Bargersville Deputy Fire Chief Michael Pruitt said. It was part of a weather front that brought severe weather across Indiana and several other states.
Tornado videos: Social media posts show tornado funnel, damage in Johnson County
Johnson County's second run-in with tornadoes in 2023
It's the second time Johnson County has taken a direct hit from tornadoes this year. On March 31 an EF-0 struck near Bargersville and an EF-3 touched down near Whiteland, leaving a path of destruction.
Damage for Sunday's tornado included structures of homes, roofs and downed power lines that could keep people’s power off for days, Pruitt said. But despite the destruction, the department found no related deaths or injuries in its search and rescue operation, he said. Officials were enforcing a curfew overnight in the affected area.
Just west of Indiana 135 off Smokey Row Road, Jessyca Copas was watching the storm with her wife and father-in-law when they saw the funnel bouncing from behind the home across the street.
“It was starting to come back down, and there was like a buzzard caught in it,” Copas said. “I was like, ‘That bird’s not getting out.’”
They immediately roused Copas’ 20-month-old daughter and mother-in-law, who were napping; grabbed the dog and diaper bag; and headed into the bathroom since their home has no basement. They had about 30 seconds to find shelter before it hit, Copas said.
The wind pushed out the bottom pane of an upstairs window and broke the top pane, spewing leaves all over the TV. But the worst of the damage was on the bottom floor, where a tree fell into the home and smashed the fence, pergola and pool, Copas said.
Despite the destruction, Copas required only two words to sum up her relief that her family was safe: “Just lucky.”
Only rafters where ceiling used to be
Less than a mile north of Copas' home, Gloria Thompson was awakened by her bed shaking. She then received an alert on her phone warning her to seek shelter in a room with no windows. After the tornado had passed, she exited her bathtub and looked up to see only rafters where her ceiling belonged.
She had moved into her apartment just three weeks ago. Along with her entire roof, the tornado swept away her progress unpacking and grocery shopping.
Thompson, 60, said she was one of two people at Clary Crossing Apartments to be displaced by the tornado. She lives next door to her daughter Monique Williams, whom she will be moving in with temporarily.
Williams, 42, said she was at work with her children at home when the tornado struck. She was shocked to see the damage as she pulled into the apartment complex, because tornado alerts happen often on the south side.
Neighbor Kimber Olson, 42, said she told her 8-year-old son to sit in the bathtub while she stood outside and filmed what looked like two cyclones circling toward her apartment.
“The sound is deafening,” Olson said. “You’ll never forget the sound. Your ears pop in such a strange way. You get a ring in your ear.”
After the tornado got closer, she went inside, closed all the doors and jumped in the bathtub with her son. She said she heard glass explode as her window shattered.
Olson has never seen a tornado before, but she said this experience will stay with her.
“Every storm I’m going to be terrified,” she said. “I’m going to be watching — very, very vigilant.”
Tornadoes in Indiana since 1950
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Greenwood Indiana tornado: Residents relate close calls
