Severe thunderstorm races across northern Delaware County
By Rick Yencer
EATON, IN - A severe thunderstorm Friday afternoon spawned a funnel cloud that produced damaging winds tearing off some roof tops, downing power lines and tree branches and caused injury to motorcyclist..
Town Marshall John Snodgrass witnessed the low hanging funnel as it passed over the town, and caused damage to a house and a barn a few miles away.
That storm also downed power lines and tree branches in Gaston and Albany, keeping public safety and utility crews busy Friday afternoon. All county fire departments responded to downed lines.
Snodgrass reported that a motorcyclist was injured when he hit a downed utility pole on Willman Road and was taken to IU Health Ball Memorial Hospital.
Indiana Michigan Power initially reported more than 200 customers without electric after the storm passed through central Indiana around 4 p.m. Duke Energy reported nearly 10,000 customers without power in Hamilton County alone with other reports of more than 30,000 outages statewide The thunderstorm line also produced hail along Interstates 69 and 70.
Jason Rogers, Delaware County emergency management agency director, reported late Friday that 6,425 county residents were still without power. EMA volunteers assessed the storm damage as minor.
The rain was less an a quarter inch and the first measurable precipitation since the start of June. Most Indiana counties are under a no burn order and Yorktown canceled their fireworks planned for Saturday. There will still be fireworks at Albany and Prairie Creek Reservoir on Saturday in advance of the Fourth of July celebration in downtown Muncie on Wednesday.
CAMMACK, IN - The power came
CAMMACK, IN - The power came back on at Woody and Emily Sears home near Daleville Saturday just in time for the Sunday sermon at Cammack United Methodist Church.
It seems about that wind and storm that knocked out power in six states Friday night for five millions people also hit Daleville, besides Albany, Eaton, Gaston and north Muncie.
Indiana Michigan and Power reported a few thousand people still had no juice on Saturday as that severe thunderstorm raced through central Indiana and picked up power in Ohio, killing more than a dozen people in eastern states that saw far more damage than Delaware County.
Sears was thankful for power again and talked about a neighbor who had many more power outages than him in recent years. This time, it was a the Sears home that was hit along with other Daleville customers.
The utility company indicated it did not have the manpower or equipment to respond to all the outages despite wanting to raise electric rates more than 25 percent for its power generating efforts in Indiana and Michigan.
Severe weather with climate change is becoming normal as extreme heat and severe storms have continued since that epic ice storm a few years back. Turning off coal and nuclear power and using renewable energy like wind, solar and geothermal is the answer to a more moderate climate, according to scientists, and energy experts.