Four buildings destroyed in microburst

By Brandi Watters, Herald Bulletin Staff Writer

May 14, 2009 09:27 pm

— ELWOOD — A microburst is being blamed for the leveling of three buildings near Elwood during Wednesday night’s thunderstorms.
A fourth building was destroyed when the microburst sent a tree crashing down onto the building, located on the same property.
Farmer and factory worker Terry Heaton lives in the 8200 block of West County Road 900 North and came home from work Wednesday to find his four pole barns and tool sheds leveled after the storm.
Three structures were completely knocked down by the wind, he said. “It just missed my home.”
As he surveyed the damage, Heaton immediately suspected a twister. “I figured it had to be like a tornado or something. It leveled them. I just built a new pole barn last year. There was metal and wood drove through the siding.”
“We’re lucky nobody got hurt.”
C.R. Brown of the Madison County Emergency Management Agency originally suspected the damage was caused by straight-line winds, not a tornado.
EMA warning officer Tom Harbron confirmed the microburst just before 5 p.m. Thursday.
The storm wreaked havoc over the county throughout Wednesday evening.
Ingalls firefighters responded to a small fire that originated from a downed power line on Indiana 13 between county roads 900 South and 1000 South.
Brown said the line started a small fire just before 7:30 p.m. on the pole that spread to the ground but was quickly extinguished before doing significant damage.
Power was lost for a couple of hours at the location, he said.
Power was also lost in parts of Pendleton when a line was blown down behind the town’s post office. Power was only out for about 20 minutes Wednesday evening, Brown said.
Scott Harless of the county highway department said a few small trees were torn down at County Road 900 South, east of 100 East, and 500 North and 700 West.
A low spot along 950 East in Pendleton is once again closed due to high water. Harless said the roadway has water showing even during the driest weather.
Tom Ecker of EMA said the county got a few knocks, but didn’t get the hit emergency officials expected. “They were predicting worse than that so were lucky.”
Contact Brandi Watters: 640-4847, brandi.watters@heraldbulletin.com

Copyright © 1999-2008 cnhi, inc.