Residents are surveying the damage to their homes as cleanup efforts continue this weekend after several tornadoes ripped across the Midwest, killing at least three people and destroying neighborhoods.
Powerful tornadoes, large hail and damaging wind gusts – part of a storm system that stretched from Texas to Pennsylvania – carved paths of destruction across Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky Thursday night, leaving residents to pick up the pieces after homes were demolished, dozens of people were injured and thousands were left in the dark with power knocked out.
With parts of towns in ruins, search and rescue teams in Indiana and Ohio began looking for survivors Friday among collapsed buildings to make sure there is no one missing.
“Every single one of these facilities are going to have to be checked, especially those that have completely collapsed,” Indiana State Police Superintendent Doug Carter said during a press conference Thursday night.
In Winchester, Indiana, an EF3 tornado destroyed 22 homes, and badly damaged 110 others. Officials said Friday that 38 people were injured from the twister, including three in critical condition.
It was one of more than a half dozen tornadoes reported across six states.
“The wrath of this really begins today when people realize the magnitude of the destruction of their homes and of their livelihoods,” Carter said during a press conference on Friday.
Up to half of the buildings in Selma – a town of about 700 people near Winchester – also appear damaged, the Delaware County Emergency Management Agency said.
Another intense EF3 tornado hit Logan County in neighboring Ohio, leaving at least three people dead and “numerous people” injured, according to Logan County Sheriff Randall Dodds.
“I could best describe it as a bomb going off,” Dodds said of the damage in the area. “Unbelievable damage.”
