EVANSVILLE, Ind. (WEHT)– The National Weather Service says at least six tornadoes touched down in the Tri-State on Friday.
At least two of them were in Vanderburgh County. A survey team with the Paducah National Weather Service says an EF-1 tornado with winds of up to 100 miles per hour ripped off the roof of Saint Joseph Catholic Church.
“We are still kind of getting details on the path, but it was at least a couple of miles long. Outside of the damage to the church, we saw a lot of uprooted trees, large limbs down, a little bit of damage to roots, and a little bit of damage to homes in the area,” says NWS Meteorologist Derrick Snyder.
Although the roof blew away, the ceiling is still entact.
“The inside of the church and all the lights, you would never know the roof is missing,” says Cliff Weaver, the EMA Director, Evansville /Vanderburgh Emergency Management Agency.
Today contractors were on the roof making sure all loose debris was down before putting a seal on the roof.
“They will be finishing a temporary structure on the ceiling to keep it rain proof, then they will come back and put on a roof later,” Weaver says.
Snyder says they are still trying to map out the path. He also says a second tornado touched down north of Darmstadt in Vanderburgh County,
“We found an EF-0 tornado with a shorter path length, maybe a mile or so, with wind speeds up to 80 miles per hour. Most of the damage was limited to trees down and trees uprooted,” Snyder says.
Snyder also says and EF-0 tornado touched down near Dale in Spencer County. On Monday, an NWS survey team confirmed an EF-1 tornado on the west side of Dubois County. It had speeds of up to 105 miles per hour and damaged a barn and uprooted trees.
NWS also confirmed an EF 1 tornado in Smith Mills in Henderson County. They also found what appears to be two more separate tornado tracks in Union County. They say one is an EF-0 and the other is an EF-1.
