By Robert Tomlinson
News Director
ST. JOSEPH COUNTY — An assessment was made Thursday on the severity of Tuesday’s storm system that barrelled through St. Joseph County, damaging homes and businesses along its path.
The National Weather Service in Northern Indiana confirmed that Tuesday’s storm was an EF-2 tornado, with an estimated peak wind speed of 130 miles per hour. According to NWS, the tornado touched down on the south side of Centreville and tracked northeast, passing north of Colon before crossing into Branch County near Havens and Goodrich Lake. The tornado reportedly lifted and weakened south of the Union Lake area.
The tornado caused extensive damage to trees and center pivot irrigation systems along the track, with the most significant damage occurring from the area north of Colon to north of Sherwood. Several homes in that part of the storm lost roofs and/or walls, which the NWS stated resulted in the area of highest damage consistent with an EF-2 tornado. At its peak intensity, the NWS confirmed that it was a multi-vortex tornado.
A state of emergency was declared by the county and the state late Tuesday, and cleanup and damage assessments are currently ongoing. As of Thursday evening, there were still 1,552 Consumer’s Energy customers, most of them in the Colon and Sherwood area, still without power.
Residents are still encouraged by the county’s Emergency Management department to report damage by going to https://arcg.is/10ab1j.
Robert Tomlinson can be reached at 279-7488 or robert@wilcoxnewspapers.com.
