3 killed, several injured in spat of Midwest tornadoes
WINCHESTER, IND. >> At least three people were killed and dozens were injured after a parade of severe weather marched through Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio overnight, spinning off at least six devastating tornadoes, officials said.
The three deaths occurred near Indian Lake, a reservoir in Ohio that becomes a bustling resort area in the summer. Two women, ages 81 and 70, were found dead in a mobile home park Thursday night, and the body of a 59-year-old man was found in a mobile home in Orchard Island early Friday, said Dr. John O'Connor, the Logan County coroner.
All three people died from “blunt force trauma,” the coroner said. About two dozen others from the area, about 70 miles northwest of Columbus, were treated for broken bones and other wounds, said Laura Miller, a spokesperson for Mary Rutan Hospital in Bellefontaine, Ohio. About half of those were still in the emergency room Friday morning, she said.
Meteorologists still were surveying the damage Friday to establish the number and strength of tornadoes. The National Weather Service office in Wilmington, Ohio, had confirmed five in the state by early Friday afternoon, although Kristen Cassady, a meteorologist, said that number could grow.
In eastern Indiana, the towns of Winchester in Randolph County and Selma in Delaware County were badly hit by at least one tornado, which razed buildings and tore roofs off homes.
The homeland security emergency management office in Randolph County said in a statement early Friday that 38 people had been injured, with 12 taken to hospitals.
In Delaware County, which is due west of Randolph, nearly half of all the structures in the small town of Selma were damaged, the county emergency management agency said in a statement. The line of storms was expected to continue Friday.