Possible tornado touch down in Napoleon
Pictured are the remains of the shed at Garrett and Alicia Smith’s in Napoleon. Lots of debris throughout Ripley County caused power outages throughout the area.
Weather forecasters were talking about Sunday’s storm early last week and began preparing everyone for what could happen. Chief Deputy Lee Davidson reported that the Ripley County Communications Center received unconfirmed reports of a tornado on the ground near 800 County Road North and Michigan Road near Napoleon about 8 p.m. Sunday, March 30.
People living in the area said the winds came fast and were violent leaving behind a path of damaged buildings and trees downed. Some residents of Napoleon said it sounded loud, and they could hear their rocking chairs on their porch banging around, but they were in the basement.
Rhonda Tunny said they live about 300 feet from the garage that was damaged at 8377 N. Old Michigan Road. In a social post from Sunday night she noted that the wind had taken down trees at their home, and she thought the house was going to blow over. She said her husband, Mike, came running in the house and came to their ‘safe’ place covering her with his own body.
At 10 p.m. on Sunday, the sheriff’s department noted that there were no reports of injuries and the main damage reported at that time was along State Road 48 from Napoleon to Sunman. There were power outages and roads blocked by debris across the county.
Duke Energy and REMC crews were out in the storm working to restore power, while county and state highway departments were clearing the roads.
On Monday morning, March 31, the Ripley County Emergency Agency was busy reviewing damage reports from 911/Communications, the sheriff’s department, fire departments, the media and more.
If you had damage from the storm, please report it to ema@ripleycounty.in.gov. Remember, a picture is worth a thousand words, so send photos and location if possible, as well. Ripley County was added to the list of counties for those with severe storm damage to call 211 or 866-211-9966 or go to: in211.communityos.org. Anyone with agricultural damage should report that to the Purdue Extension.
About power lines. Always assume a downed line is live and avoid going near it. You can contact your power provider when storms come and power goes out, to see what the estimated time of restoration will be. This could help you make decisions about hooking up a generator, getting to a friend or neighbors, or what to do about prolonged outages. Go to: DCREMC Outage Map: https://ebill.dcremc.com/maps/OutageWebMap/
SEIREMC Outage map: https://www.seiremc.com/outagemap
Duke Energy Outages: https://outagemaps.duke-energy.com/#/current-outages/in
Indiana Power Outages: https://poweroutage.us/area/state/indiana
The Indiana Weather Network has put out a warning for possible severe weather on Wednesday, April 2. Again, this has a favorable pattern for widespread severe weather ranging from very high winds, rain, hail and tornadoes.
Designate your ‘safe’ space now and go when you feel you should or when the sirens are blaring as they did with this last blast of storms. Weather radios are good, and keep your cellphone charged and close by to receive any type of weather warning. Listen to your local news stations. Call to check on elderly friends and neighbors.
Each town in the county has designated shelters for those living in mobile homes, etc. Please check with your local town to see where these are ahead of the storm.
