The National Weather Service has made determinations that a tornado touched down in Northwestern Washington County as part of Wednesday’s storms.
Tornadoes were also confirmed in Scott, Clark, Lawrence and Orange County.
An NWS storm survey, in conjunction with Washington County Emergency Management concluded that a tornado touched down in Saltillo and was embedded in a larger field of straight-line winds.
The tornado may have been an extension of the Lawrence/Orange County EF-2, and further work is being done to confirm the extension of the path.
Officials said the preliminary path length is 5 miles with a max width of 100 yards for the tornado, however the overall straight-line wind path width was close to a mile wide in spots.
The most intense tornado damage happened shortly after touchdown, where over 50 healthy hardwood trees had snapped trunks with no foliage.
In addition, an outbuilding lost part of a roof, and debris struck a residence causing cracked masonry and dented drywall on the inside of the structure.
Maximum wind speeds of 100 mph were estimated in this area.
The tornado continued eastward where more homes experienced minor roof damage, trees were uprooted, and a large outbuilding was nearly destroyed.
After crossing Cave River Valley Rd and White River Rd, the tornado took out nearly 50 softwood trees.
Farther east, over 100 hardwood and softwood trees were uprooted and snapped, and notable convergence was observed.
After driving a 4X6 post through the roof of a home near Hunter Rd, the tornado continued east to Prowsville Ridge Rd, where an uptick to 90-95 mph intensity was noted.
Another stand of nearly 50 hardwood trees were uprooted and snapped, along with significant damage to a porch and roof of a home.
Tornadic damage ceased east of Cox Ferry Rd, however some instances of straight-line winds were noted all the way to Delaney Park Rd.
It was also noted that straight-line winds were surveyed south of the tornado damage path, from Saltillo eastward to West Washington School Rd.
Eyewitness accounts put this damage at slightly earlier times than when the tornado damage occurred. The straight-line wind damage ranged from 60-80 mph.
A series of microbursts and straight line winds reaching over 90 mph were evident in the broader damage path south of Salem and towards Pekin.
The first spot was where a roof was removed from a house along IN 135, 9 miles from Salem.
Continuing east-southeast, there were many locations with sporadic tree and barn damage, the worse along Voyles Road 3 miles south of New Pekin.
The roof was removed in two abandoned buildings in downtown Pekin and Borden.
The sporadic damage continued east along and near IN 60 past Bennettsville.
A small tornado rated at EF1 touched down in the backyard of a home about a quarter mile west from the caution light on IN 60 in Borden and uprooted trees and caused roof damage to the home.
The tornado moved along Muddy Fork and snapped or uprooted numerous trees.
Then the tornado crossed IN 60 where it was witnessed by people in the Buckboard Diner.
Next, the tornado removed the roof of the older building next to the cafe and a garage behind the cafe.
It threw its debris into a small church and removed some of its roof.
No other damage in the narrow path was seen beyond this point, according to the National Weather Service.
Over in Scottsburg, an EF1 tornado touched down on Interstate 65 at approximately mile marker 25.5.
Moving east south east, it collapsed a wall on a large cinder block building, then destroyed two metal outbuildings and flipped an unanchored mobile home on a farmstead just east of the interstate.
It continued skipping east uprooting and snapping trees and destroying an anchored mobile home on Underwood Road.
Three residents were in the home at the time when it rolled over and disintegrated.
They received minor injuries.
The tornado then damaged an outbuilding and numerous more trees as it headed east toward toward Double or Nothing Road.
Near the intersection of Double or Nothing Road and Radio Tower Road, it destroyed a large garage and pushed a doublewide manufactured home off its foundation.
The tornado was embedded in a 1-2 mile wide area of 60 to 80 mph winds that extended further east for over 10 miles, and may have briefly touched down within this area as well.
The twister was on the ground for about 2 miles and was about 200 yards wide.
Another twister was confirmed in Lawrence County. The tornado collapsed 3 metal chicken barns and damaged or destroyed some outbuildings.
The tornado continued southeast into Orange County before lifting. The tornado produced EF-1 level damage in Orange County, destroying two mobile homes.
One mobile home rolled over onto a new vehicle where three occupants were unhurt.
The car ended up inside the living room of the mobile home. The other mobile home took a direct hit, taking the roof off and blowing the walls out of half of the home.
An occupant of the home was blown into the field with home debris, while leaving living room furniture in place.
The resident received only minor injuries.
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