At least 22 tornadoes swept across the state over the weekend killing five people in Owen and Sullivan counties.

In Owen County, a couple died at their campsite in McCormick Creek State Park after becoming caught in an EF-3 tornado that struck Friday after dark. 

Indiana state police identified the couple as Brett and Wendy Kincaid, avid campers from Rossville, Indiana.

Shortly before the tornado hit, the couple shared photos of their campsite on Facebook saying that they were glad they stayed to hike on a beautiful day despite the ominous forecast.

McCormick Creek is now open again, according to the park’s website, after a week of closures to clear blocked roads from fallen trees and limbs. 

In Sullivan County, three people died after a separate EF-3 tornado with winds topping 155 mph severely damaged more than 200 homes and buildings over an eight mile area.  People in Sullivan say the damage is so extensive in the small town, it is hard to get their bearings.

Coroner Joe Coffman identified the three victims in Sullivan County as Susan Kay Horton, 56; Thomas Randall Horton, 38 (son of Susan Horton) and Shane Steven Goodman, 47. All were residents of the county that lived in the area.

Sullivan Mayor Clint Lamb instituted a curfew 7 A.M – 7 P.M. for the most impacted areas of town. 

Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb declared a state of emergency in Sullivan and Johnson county Saturday after paying a visit to the neighborhoods in the southern rim of the city of Sullivan. 

“I have full confidence that even after the dark storm, there will be light again,” Governor Holcomb said.

National Weather Service Meteorologist-in-Charge in Indianapolis Ted Funk says that the tornado is classified as what they call a “considerable tornado.”

Search and rescue efforts continued throughout the weekend until state police could account for all residents. According to Sullivan Mayor Clint Lamb, police and fire departments responded from all over the state from Fort Wayne to Evansville. 

The state even brought in specialized search and rescue helicopter units and a team of cadaver dogs to search the surrounding county area.

Mayor Lamb described the devastation as “absolute carnage” saying, “there’s no way in the world that I’d ever think that I’d be walking through neighborhoods that I used to ride my bike through and just see mass devastation.”  

Residents living in the area describe the sound of the deadly tornado as “a train without a whistle.”

Although Funk says the National Weather Service was able to provide little more than 20 minutes warning to residents in Sullivan, many residents say they had a very short amount of time to get to safety.

Johnna Walters says that her family of four all huddled in their home’s bathtub as her husband managed to pull a mattress over their heads for cover only a few minutes before the impact. 

Sullivan resident Brandon Dow says that he barely had time to close his front door before the tornado blew out his front windows. 

“I was really afraid that, you know, that house is not going to stand long enough for me to live through this. I didn’t know if it was gonna take the house and me with it or collapse on top of me,“ he said.

The morning after the storm, residents were picking through piles of debris to search for valuables and heirlooms.

Diann Smith stayed behind to look for lost pets. She says she dug her son’s cat out of the rubble of their home– “thankfully alive”– and rescued her neighbor’s dog who had found its way into an attic of an unstable home. 

 

Relief organizations like the Red Cross, Salvation Army and Sheep Dog Impact Assistance poured into town Saturday to help with rescue efforts and begin clearing debris. 

Four Indiana veterans representing Sheep Dog Impact Assistance were among the volunteers equipped with chainsaws clearing trees.  Southern Indiana Chapter Commander Chris Mackey says his team drove straight from Mississippi, where a tornado killed more than two dozen people earlier in the week.

Not all the volunteers drove from out of town to help though. Many of Sullivan County’s less-impacted residents lined up at the Sullivan Civic Center and Sullivan High School to offer their services.

A group of Hoosiers from Carlisle, Indiana–just the next town over–gathered outside a nearby gas station with a spread of frozen food, clothes, bottled drinks and fresh produce. 

A sign visible from the road read, “Help for those in need. Don’t be greedy. Take only what you need.”

Carlisle chef Mike Regan organized the food drive. He says that a local “retail store” that wishes to remain anonymous donated $10,000 food after experiencing a power outage the night of the weather. 

More than 200 impacted families visited Regan’s supply drive, filling garbage bags with frozen pizzas and fresh oranges to take away.

The Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority is offering 30-day housing vouchers to residents with damaged homes requiring emergency shelter. Mayor Duke Bennett of Terre Haute also opened many of the city’s hotels to Sullivan residents looking for shelter. 

Mayor Lamb expressed his gratitude for the “outpouring of support” from the national, state and county community Sunday at an address at City Hall. 

He asked that people stop giving perishable donations because of a storage shortage and urged that the community start looking ahead towards resources needed for long term recovery.

“This can’t be an emotional thing where everybody jumps on now we’re going to need your help today, we’re going to need your help a week from now, we’re going to need your help months from now, we’re going to need your help years from now,” Lamb said. “So we’re gonna need a steady supply of resources.”

Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb said similarly in a statement that support from the state government will not be “parachuting in one day and out the next.”

One week after the devastating storm, some residents said that things in Sullivan are looking up as debris is slowly cleared away. 

Mayor Lamb says that there is still a “long road” of rebuilding ahead, but right now the county is in its “honeymoon phase of recovery” where hope has returned to the community.