Storm damage survey finds no tornado evidence

A preliminary survey of damage from Sunday’s storm in Bartholomew and neighboring counties shows that no tornado touched down in our area, however straight line wind damage did occur at nearly tornado speeds.

Local emergency officials and the National Weather Service inspected damage yesterday from Sunday nights storms that led to several tornado warnings. The survey included Bartholomew, Brown and Monroe counties. Damage in all three areas indicated damage caused by straight line winds of 65 to 85 mph.

Many photos and videos are circulating of rotating wall clouds or funnel clouds, and surveyors can not rule out that a brief, weak tornado could have touched down in an inaccessible area such as in heavy woods, or touched down but caused no noticeable damage.

The weather service says that the rotation did strengthen what they called the “rear flank downdraft wind” effect, or straight-line winds. Nearly all of the damage was caused to small or rotten trees that were either uprooted from soft ground of soft wood trees such as pine that appears to have snapped from swaying in the winds. Nearly all of the tree damage was isolated and surrounded by smaller trees or structures with received little or no damage.

They also said that in an area along Christianburg Road, in eastern Brown County several trees were snapped off near their tops, which could have been caused by rotation from a funnel cloud.

The weather service says that they are welcoming any more reports, photos or videos of damage and could revise this preliminary result if more information becomes available.

Photo: March 30th storm damage. Photo courtesy of Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department.