Trail Of Destruction as Tornado slams Indianapolis
Pastor Dale Morgan
Trail Of Destruction as Tornado slams Indianapolis*
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Residents cleaned up Saturday after a tornado plowed
a trail of destruction through the east side of Indianapolis, but they
gave thanks that nobody was killed and that the only injuries were minor.
The storm blew through late Friday, ripping roofs off several apartment
buildings, snapping trees and toppling power lines. Eighteen people were
treated for "very minor" injuries, said John Ball, the area's emergency
management director.
"It is a miracle that we didn't have serious injuries or death," he
said. "A gentleman told me last night at the shelter that he was lying
in bed and heard a rumble, and the roof was gone and he saw the sky."
Winds snapped trees, wrapped metal sheeting around a telephone pole and
left a four-block-wide trail of debris about a mile long. Gas station
pumps were knocked over, roof shingles shredded, and power lines and
tree branches scattered.
The storm knocked out power to more than 100,000 customers. Many
thousands remained without power Saturday afternoon, utilities said.
The American Red Cross of Greater Indianapolis housed 170 people
overnight in a church gym near a destroyed apartment complex in the city
of nearly 800,000.
"Some of these folks came in with the clothes on their backs or pajamas,
and they were soaked, too," said spokeswoman Beth Smietana.
More came later Saturday morning to register for help or pick up baby
formula, bottles and diapers.
Natasha Prim, who registered for help, said she and her mother had
finished dinner and were enjoying a quiet night when she heard tornado
sirens followed by silence.
"All of a sudden you could hear the wind picking up, and it just kept
getting stronger and stronger," said Prim, 29.
They ran to a closet in the middle of her first-floor apartment and
heard the storm tear the roof off.
"It just sounded like 20 trains coming at you," she said. "It seemed
like forever, but it was probably 45 seconds at that."
The storm blew out the windows of Latasha Lewis' home, tore a hole
through her kitchen roof and ripped her screen door off the front door
with the frame still attached. Lewis, 28, fled to her mother's house and
managed only to grab some clothes. She also stopped by the shelter for help.
Her 1-year-old daughter, Chardea, played with a stuffed Mickey Mouse
doll provided by the Red Cross as people stood in line nearby, waiting
to register.
"It could have always been worse," said Latasha's mother, Gwen Lewis.
"Thank God, at least we're living."
The tornado was part of a system that swept through the Midwest with
heavy rain, high winds, thunder and lightning. Damage was also reported
in Illinois, as well as in northwest Ohio, where two tornadoes destroyed
homes near Arcadia, Forstoria, and Glandorf.
Jamie Cook, 27, of Fostoria, took shelter in the basement of her
two-story home with her infant son as an uprooted tree crashed into it.
"Oh my God, we just got out of bed and the sirens were going off," Cook
said. "It was, it was rumbling, it was definitely shaking the house, it
was outstanding. I have never heard anything like that before. I went numb."
Near Washington, D.C., firefighters reported a possible tornado, but no
injuries or damage were reported.