BLOOMINGTON − A tornado touched down in northern Monroe County on Wednesday night, toppling trees and power lines and closing highways.
In a bulletin issued shortly before 10 p.m. EDT, the National Weather Service warned of a “large and extremely dangerous” tornado some eight miles northeast of Spencer in Owen County, about 13 miles northwest of Bloomington.
The Indiana Department of Transportation later announced that Interstate 69 was closed at Mile Marker 130 − about four miles south of Martinsville − due to downed trees and power lines.
There were no immediate reports of injuries from the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office.
The tornado was observed on the ground by spotters, but its size and intensity will be determined by National Weather Service survey teams.
The storms that rolled through the Bloomington area on Wednesday night were part of a larger outbreak of severe weather that stretched from the Illinois-Iowa border into Indiana. As of midnight, the National Weather Service had logged more than 100 damaging wind reports and seven tornadoes across the two states.
The agency had placed large swaths of both Indiana and Illinois in a “moderate risk” area for severe weather, the second-highest level the National Weather Service issues.
Duke Energy reported 345 customers without power in Monroe County as of 12:10 a.m. Thursday, and another 817 customers without power in neighboring Morgan County.
A weather service spotter reported damage on Buskirk Road about a mile south of Burma Road near the Monroe-Morgan county line. The damage included “large, healthy trees” brought down by the storm, “several” of them on vehicles and homes with extensive siding and roof damage.
Bloomington weather radar
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Tornado damage reported in northern Monroe County
Reporting by Carol Kugler, The Herald-Times / The Herald-Times
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Carol Kugler, The Herald-Times | USA TODAY Network
