Wednesday morning brought clear weather to begin a massive undertaking — cleaning up damage from the Tuesday afternoon Tornado.
It struck Black Township and Mt. Vernon most directly, especially the Mead Johnson distribution warehouse on Plaza Drive and highway 62.
“The roof has collapsed and multiple walls have collapsed here,” Black Township Fire Chief Jay Price said. “All employees were accounted for at this warehouse. We had a major gas leak here. We were able to get that shut down and get all the electric and generator systems shut down.”
Shortly after the tornado struck, police and fire agencies were guiding traffic at the storm-tossed intersection of highway 62 and Plaza Drive just outside Mount Vernon. First Bank employees were waiting for family members to pick them up if their vehicles were marooned in the parking lot.
While there was some damage to homes at the Russel Mobile Home Park on Seibert lane and other random damage, Price confirmed there were no injuries and mostly commercial damage.
The weather was blamed on tropical cyclone Beryl, which made landfall in Texas Monday night.
The tornado damaged the strip mall on Plaza Drive across from the warehouse and debris is scattered about the flooded parking lot.
Carol Buttry from Carmi, Illinois, was shopping in the Dollar Tree with her granddaughter, when employees told them to seek shelter.
“So we ran into the bathroom,” she said. “And it was pretty bad because we could hear the lights flickering. And we could hear the tornado going around the store.” She said it sounded like a “roaring” around the building. “We could hear the roof coming off …” She said she never wants to do that again.
Some guys who probably would experience a tornado again, are from Ohio Valley Weather Watch. Zach Jennings, Matt Reneer and Jordan Steitler saw the tornado and followed the damage to Plaza Drive. Their video is posted below.
“You saw the debris first … it just looked like a very large tornado,” Jennings said. “You have these multiple vortices run around so you really see where it got violent.”
That debris is all over the expressway and the parking lot.
Several trees are ripped in half near the Mead Johnson building. Photos of a derailed train are circulating online.
It was a busy day for first responders which included Mount Vernon Agencies with CenterPoint Energy and INDOT. And of course Black Township Fire Department with chief Jay Price who was first on the scene.
He said his crews were on a medical call on the other side of the city when the tornado struck. Their dispatch center also lost power, exacerbating the issue. Price said it’s heartbreaking to see businesses, and livelihoods damaged.
“They're gonna be displaced from work now,” he said. “And like I said, ‘Thank God there was no injuries’ and everybody's able to go home. Things are replaceable, always. But people are not.”
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