Possible tornado sweeps through Warrick County as storms hit Evansville area
EVANSVILLE – Storm storms and a possible tornado swept through parts of Vanderburgh and Warrick counties Tuesday, leaving flooding, damage and power outages in their wake.
As of Wednesday evening, there had been no reports of injuries. Here’s what we know so far.
9 p.m. Power outages rise again in Evansville and Warrick County
By 9 p.m., CenterPoint’s reported outages had crept up again. More than 20,000 customers were making due without power.
The blackouts stretched from Western Vanderburgh County to Warrick. Some areas reported only a handful of darkened households, while other spots – including the Oak Grove Road corridor in Warrick – saw thousands without electricity.
The outages come as huge swaths of the Tri-State labor under boiling heat. The National Weather Service said heat indexes could surge past 110 degrees by Wednesday at 3 p.m.
Although some outages had been repaired Tuesday night, there was no word on how long the issues would linger.
8:30 p.m.: Weather service to survey damage Wednesday; power outages dip
Derrick Snyder, with the Paducah office of the NWS, said the weather service will send a “damage survey team to the Chandler … area” Wednesday morning.
Surveyors mostly found downed trees and limbs. There were also toppled fences and some minor structural damage.
Power outages in the area had dipped some, but were still high. CenterPoint reported around 17,000 customers without power as of 8:28.
8:10 p.m.: Almost 29,000 without power
According to CenterPoint’s outage map, almost 29,000 customers in the Evansville and Newburgh areas were without power as of 8 p.m.
In Evansville, the largest clusters occurred in the far western portions of Vanderburgh County. There were also thousands without power along Diamond Avenue, near the Stringtown area. In Newburgh, the largest outages were along Oak Grove Road.
8:05 p.m.
A Courier & Press photographer clocking the damage spotted lots of tree damage in the Paradise area northwest of Newburgh.
Via the National Weather Service, surveyors reported downed limbs, bent or broken fences, and minor structural damage, especially to masonry and roofs.
7:53 p.m.
From the Warrick County Sheriff’s Facebook page: “Traffic is very bad due to power outages and road closures. Please remain safe and stay home if you can!”
7:45 p.m.: A reported tornado and power outages
National Weather Service officials were fielding multiple reports of damage, mainly in Warrick County and parts of northeastern Vanderburgh. Around 6:45 p.m., NWS heard reports that a tornado had touched down near Chandler.
Officials on the ground reported slews of tree damage just south of the small town. The Evansville area was also under a flash flood warning as strong bands of rain flushed water into the roads.
Evansville-Vanderburgh Central Dispatch confirmed that Warrick County authorities requested mutual aid, but would not confirm what units were dispatched.
CenterPoint didn’t show any outages on its online map as of 7:35, but Justin Gibbs with the NWS said outages are “probably … pretty extensive from the damage that’s been reported.”
This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Possible tornado sweeps through Warrick County in Evansville area
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