Kelley Whitcomb, who lives just inside the Hancock/Madison County line in Fortville, shared this video of ominous clouds as the storm moved east, toward Pendleton. The video was shot right before 8 p.m. Monday; minutes later, tornado sirens sounded.
PENDLETON — Ashley Tomlinson was sitting on the front porch of her home at the intersection of Franklin and High Streets watching the weather develop Monday night. What she saw scared her to death.
“It was terrifying,” Tomlinson said. “It was quiet — too quiet — and I said, ‘Man, I bet a tornado is going to come through here,’ and all the sudden that tree fell and that tree fell and we didn’t know what to do because it all just went down so fast, and we were just in shock.”
Several large branches filled her front yard Tuesday morning, and it was the same for most of the homes along Franklin Street, one of the areas hardest hit by Monday evening’s storm in Pendleton. The storm struck about 8 p.m.
The National Weather Service confirmed Tuesday morning that the damage in town was caused by a tornado with a strength of EF2, Madison County Emergency Management spokesman Todd Harmeson said. A twister that strong packs winds of 111 to 135 mph.
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Click here to purchase photos from this galleryOnly one minor injury was reported.
An undetermined number of homes in Pendleton were damaged. An early report put the number of damaged homes at 75, but Harmeson said late Tuesday afternoon that the assessment was not complete.
The storm ripped off roofs and knocked down dozens of trees and power lines, making streets impassable. Police, in fact, closed off streets leading into town and urged residents to shelter in place for much of the day Tuesday. Classes were called off Tuesday at Pendleton Heights High School, and emergency management officials opened a shelter there. A shelter for pets also was set up for those who didn’t want to leave their animals at home.
All South Madison schools will be closed again today, officials said.
About 4,200 households were without electricity, Indiana State Police reported. Crews were working to restore power as quickly as possible.
The sights of toppled trees and other damage was startling to lifelong residents like Joe Rector, 77, Pendleton, who said he could not recall such an intense storm ever hitting the area.
“You could see it start to form right on top of us,” Rector said.
On Tuesday morning, crews were busy cutting away limbs and clearing streets. Hunter Barger, who works for the town’s street department, said they were in for a long haul to get things back in order.
“We’re way overwhelmed right now,” he said during a break to get a drink of water. “This is something you see out of the movies, that’s for sure.”
Cyndee and Paul Ell, had a tree fall onto the front porch of their home in the 200 block of Franklin Street. Several others snapped and and were laying across the roof of their garage.
“It just all came upon us so freaking fast,” Cindy Ell said. “I looked outside and said to my husband, ‘are you sure were not about ready to get a tornado?’ And sure enough it just started whipping around and yeah, it was scary.”
The Ell family quickly got went into their basement and rode out the storm, but not before her husband saw the tornado form above them.
“I’ve seen two in my life, and that’s two too many,” Paul Ell said.
Over at the Pendleton Methodist Church, 225 W State St., Pendleton, roof repair crews were already on the top of the church patching holes as best they could and placing a blue tarp on the roof to keep things dry until real repairs could be made. The church, which sits at the entrance of town for travelers coming from the north, had its welcoming steeple toppled in the storm.
Senior pastor Doug Walker was on vacation in Saugatuck, Michigan, when the storm hit and said he knew something was up in town when people started reaching out to him to see if they needed any help.
While his church did sustain structural damage, he’s seen worse, he said. Walker has worked with disaster response groups for years and said all anyone can do in a situation like this is hunker down, clean up and rebuild.
“Some might say I’m not emotional enough about this kind of stuff, but it happened and now we gotta clean it up and get it done,” Walker said.
Still, the pastor said he feels badly for those whose homes and businesses sustained damage. He said he was somewhat surprised to hear a tornado had actually hit the area because historically these types of storms miss Pendleton, which was developed in a valley where major storms normally just don’t form.
“The Indians settled here because tornadoes didn’t hit here in this hole,” Walker said.
