By Robert Tomlinson
News Director
THREE RIVERS — A confirmed EF-2 tornado Tuesday hit areas of the western part of St. Joseph County, including Three Rivers, Flowerfield Township and Fabius Township.
A tornado warning was issued at 7:59 a.m. Tuesday in St. Joseph County, which went through 9 a.m., while a tornado watch was issued until 3 p.m. The tornado that passed through had high winds and heavy rains, and caused damage to some buildings, trees and properties in the area.
The National Weather Service confirmed the tornado Wednesday evening. It reportedly went from near Lewis Lake southeast to the north side of Three Rivers. Initial survey results by the NWS indicated “at least EF-1 damage,” however late Wednesday, NWS upgraded it to an EF-2, with an estimated peak wind of 115 miles per hour.
Some residents on the west side of St. Joseph County lost power due to the storm. At noon Tuesday, Indiana-Michigan Power reported 357 outages in the Three Rivers area, while Midwest Energy reported 433 outages in Flowerfield Township, about half of their service area in the township, and 119 outages in Fabius Township, about 10 percent of their service area in that area.
Some of the damage in the Three Rivers area was in the area of North Main Street, symbolized by the roof of the Team Manufacturing and Supply building being heavily damaged, with portions of its rubberized roof and other materials strewn about in a near quarter-mile radius, including a large portion caught in a tree across from the Sto-N-Go storage facility. NWS reported the area of Team Manufacturing was where the tornado ended.
Workers from Clark Logic, which owns the Team Manufacturing building, and other volunteers were observed helping to clean up the damage around the area of the building Tuesday morning, using bulldozers and trucks to pick up debris.
Jamie Clark, the owner of Clark Logic, said he was inside the building when the storm rolled through. He said along with the roof damage, there was also damage inside the Team building, as one of the interior walls of the building collapsed.
“There was a wall that was blown out, and the roof structure was torn off,” Clark said. “What happens in the pressure with a tornado in a building is it basically just compresses that whole space, so that’s why overhead doors and dock doors get blown in internally. So, that’s what happened. The overhead doors, the walls, the dock doors [were damaged].”
Clark said it was “way too early” to determine the monetary amount of damage to the building, but added that they are already lining up contractors to repair the damage to the building.
“We started right away. We’ve got all of our contractors on the job already, so they’re evaluating and ordering,” Clark said.
Meanwhile, a multitude of damage was reported west of Three Rivers, in Fabius and Flowerfield townships, as well as in the Marcellus area in eastern Cass County. According to NWS, there was “significant” tree damage and snapped power poles along the entirety of Berry Lane near Lewis Lake, as well as a “well-anchored” manufactured home slid approximately five feet off its foundation on Day Road. NWS also reported a barn was completely destroyed at the intersection of Bent Road and Floating Bridge Road, and farther east removed the roof of another barn “completely off” and moved it about 30 feet away.
Near Pulver and Null Road, NWS reported, eight power poles were snapped, an irrigation pivot was twisted, and roof damage was observed to three homes. Along Cowling Road, they reported that a shed was moved “20 to 30 feet away from its foundation,” with part of the structure thrown into the Rocky River.
Floating Bridge Road and Bent Road were reopened Wednesday morning, while Day Road was still closed as of press time Wednesday.
The weather also slightly impacted voting in Flowerfield Township. Election officials in the township, including Township Clerk Teresa Ives, reported that the township hall lost power around 8:20 a.m. Tuesday, and poll workers were running tabulators and other electronic items via battery backup until St. Joseph County Emergency Management brought in a generator and hooked it up around 10 a.m. Power was fully restored to the building at 2:39 p.m.
“I guess I would say it’s been challenging, but we are getting through this,” Ives said. “We’re a community where everybody’s pitched in. … We have not turned anybody away and people have been able to come in and vote.”
St. Joseph County Undersheriff Jason Bingaman confirmed Tuesday the damage was mainly in the Flowerfield, Fabius and Three Rivers area, and that no injuries have been reported as a result of the storm.
The National Weather Service office in Northern Indiana said in a statement that they planned on surveying damage in St. Joseph County and Cass County Wednesday.
Robert Tomlinson can be reached at 279-7488 or robert@wilcoxnewspapers.com.
