SEYMOUR, Ind. – A team from the National Weather Service determined Thursday that a tornado touched down in the city, blowing off several roofs and overturning mobile homes.
The path of the tornado was a half-mile wide at one point Wednesday evening, meteorologist Dave Tucek said. It destroyed some homes and took the roof off the Crothersville police station in southern Indiana, authorities said.
Winds tore off roofs on several homes and overturned mobile homes in Jackson County, with debris left hanging in nearby trees. Two elderly residents trapped in their home for a short time were hospitalized with possible broken bones and other non-life-threatening injuries, police said.
The heaviest damage appeared to be just south of Seymour and in the Reddington area north of the city.
Seymour resident Cathy Sandlin told WISH-TV that she and her family ran for cover when the storm hit the city 50 miles north of Louisville, Ky.
"It was just here and gone, but we sat there for a while because I know it gets real calm sometimes, and the winds did pick up again," she said.
At least five homes were destroyed in the storm, said Duane Davis, the county's emergency management director.
Police dispatchers said the storm blew the roof from the police station in Crothersville, a town of about 1,500 people, about 10 miles south of Seymour.
Jackson County sheriff's dispatcher Herschel Zahnd said authorities suspected a tornado caused much of that damage but that there was no confirmation. Dispatchers said numerous tree limbs and power lines were down and flash flooding was extensive.
Duke Energy reported Thursday at noon that about 70 homes still were without power. About 3,000 homes and businesses lost electricity soon after the storm hit Jackson County and neighboring Scott County.
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