Storms blow through South-Central Indiana Wednesday afternoon, night

COLUMBUS, Ind.- UPDATE: 10:30 A.M: Due to severe weather on Wednesday evening, several hundred homes in South-Central Indiana have been left without power in Bartholomew, Johnson and Jennings counties. Monroe and Owen County received significant storm damage from a potential tornado.

As of 10:30 a.m., 123 Duke Energy customers in Bartholomew County remain without power, 234 customers in Monroe County, and 2 in Jennings. 

At around 12:09 a.m. on Thursday, a tornado was confirmed by radar to have struck Jackson County. The tornado damaged two homes near Freetown. Downed power lines and trees, as a result of the storm,  closed SR 58 near County Rd 810N for several hours.

According to a press release by Monroe County Emergency Management, Severe thunderstorms went through the northwestern portion of Monroe County. The storms produced destructive winds and heavy rainfall, resulting in damages in a rural region outside of the town of Stinesville near Gosport and the southern Morgan County border. Several structures within the rural area have been reported to be impacted. . At this time, there has been one reported injury that resulted in that individual being transported to a local hospital. Several trees and powerlines are down, making travel difficult in the impacted areas. For the safety of the public and first responders, please refrain from traveling in the rural area outside of the Town of Stinesville to the Owen and Morgan County borders.

In addition, INDOT stated that I-69 was closed between Bloomington and Martinsville due to downed trees, power lines, and debris. With assistance from the Indiana State Police,  INDOT maintenance crews were able to quickly perform clean up operations and reopen I-69 early on Thursday morning.

ORIGINAL STORY

It was a tense late afternoon and night in Bartholomew and neighboring counties on Wednesday. There were Severe Thunderstorm Warnings and Tornado Warnings in effect from the National Weather Service (NWS) at various times throughout the day and evening. Conditions were most harrowing late Wednesday night when a Tornado Warning was issued for parts of Bartholomew, Jackson, and Brown Counties. NWS has not yet confirmed any tornadoes in Bartholomew County.

As of 5 a.m. on Thursday, Duke Energy reported 142 customers in Bartholomew County without power, and another 160 in Brown County. The Bartholomew County REMC outage map showed only 3 customers without power.

Indiana State Police troopers said a confirmed tornado touched down in northern Owen County, northwest of Bloomington.