There may have been from 20 to 30 tornadoes to touch down in Indiana during an outbreak Wednesday.
That’s an early estimate from the National Weather Service, whose survey teams preliminarily rated the twister that flattened a Kokomo Starbucks and caused damage to many other buildings, a EF3, with winds of at least 136 mph.
“In Kokomo, Grant County and coming out of that way it sounds like there may have been multiple tornadoes that were developing, they’d go for a little bit, weaken and then another one would develop, vesus the one in Allen County potentially and points northeast. That one may have only been one or two,” said Lonnie Fisher, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
“Quite a while since we had an event of this magnitude,” said Fisher. “We’re gonna have to see what we end up with finally in terms of the scope of the event to rank it.”
Starbucks released a statement on the flattened store.
“We want to express our heartfelt concern for all those personally affected by a tornado that touched down in the community Kokomo, Indiana, this afternoon. We are relieved to report all partners (employees) and customers from the Starbucks store at US 35 & SR 22 are safe.We will continue to support our store partners and local authorities in any way we can.
“I say with a grateful heart that we have no reports of serious injuries or deaths with these storms,” said Gov. Mike Pence, in a press conference Wednesday evening. He and Lt. Gov. Eric Holcomb were expected to be in the air, surveying the damage from a helicopter during the morning hours. They planned to land in Kokomo and tour the damage in the city.
There may have been as many as 15 homes and businesses damaged in Kokomo. But in Montgomery County, where an EF2 also hit, there may have been as many as 30 homes and businesses damaged.
Last week’s tornadoes on the west side of Indianapolis were not nearly as destructive.
IndyCar driver Conor Daily and Indianapolis Motor Speedway President Doug Boles were both in Kokomo for a memorial for IndyCar driver Bryan Clauson, which was to happen at the Kokomo speedway.
While Daly snapped pics and video, Boles described the damage on the radio.
National Weather Service survey teams were expected to be surveying the damage Thursday for a clearer understanding of the storms.