‘It’s kind of a mess in there,’ after tornado strikes Jay County High School
Emergency officials on Monday afternoon were continuing to inspect the damage left by a Sunday evening tornado that struck Jay County Junior-Senior High School.
The resulting damage resulted in Jay County schools being closed on Monday.
Houses across Indiana 67 from the school were also damaged by Sunday’s storm, with one losing much of its roof.
No injuries were reported.
Dustin Norman, a warning coordination meteorologist for the National Weather Service, inspected the junior-senior high school building on Monday morning and said, “It’s kind of a mess in there.”
“Part of the roof was lifted off,” Norman said. “We’ve got a couple of HVAC units that were torn off the top of the roof. Some of the classrooms are exposed to the outside.”
Most of the damage was believed to be on the west end of the building housing the junior high school.
At least one large portion of an HVAC unit torn from the school’s roof was found several yards east of the building on the school grounds, not far from Indiana 67.
Most information concerning the storm and its aftermath — including a decision on whether Jay County’s schools will reopen on Tuesday — were expected to be released later on Monday.
Sunday’s storm had not resulted in tornado watches or warnings from the National Weather Service.
“We weren’t in a very conducive environment for tornados,” Norman said, explaining that much of the rotation of Sunday’s tornado was closer to the ground than that found in most storms that produce such warnings.
“This is one of those rare circumstances where people are likely not going to receive a warning from our office,” he said. “We just have to swallow our pride and hope everybody is safe.”
He also noted Sunday’s storm was accompanied only by rain showers, not a thunderstorm.
Before the storm damage was reported in Jay County, emergency dispatchers in Delaware County on Sunday evening received reports of storm damage in the area of Delaware County Road 600 West and Indiana 332.
A dispatcher reported that at 7:43 p.m. Sunday, a report was received from EMS personnel of a “possible touchdown or rotation” in that area, near the unincorporated community of Cammack.
No related injuries were reported.
Chief Deputy Jeff Stanley of the Delaware County sheriff’s department said about 8:30 p.m. the only damage found in the area was to a building belonging to TK Constructors, north of Jackson Street in Cammack.
Photos were posted online of a dark cloud with a narrow spout approaching the ground, reportedly in the same area. Those photos prompted speculation the cloud was a land spout, considered by some to be a low-grade tornado.
NWS official Norman said the storm that struck Jay County Junior-Senior High School could have been a land spout, which he said was a type of tornado with a “different mechanism” that other types of storms that are typically more powerful.
