Storm strikes

Twisted metal and other debris were strewn across the parking lot and grassy area in front of Jay County Junior-Senior High School, where entrances to the facility were blocked off by barricades and school buses after emergency vehicles departed.

A house across the highway had most of its roof torn off.

Rubble from the second floor of Portland’s American Legion post was piled in its parking lot.

A storm with high winds, including a reported tornado, hit Jay County on Sunday evening with the most severe damage at the junior-senior high school, a home in the Beacon Heights housing addition across Indiana 67 and at the American Legion post at the intersection of Walnut and Ship streets.

There was additional damage at Sheffer Acres, along Tyson Road and generally in the area between Water and Walnut streets in Portland.

Jay Schools were closed Monday.

“To me, it looks like a quarter of that building has got some significant damage to the roof, which affected the interior, primarily in the area of the IMC and those adjacent rooms,” said Jay School Corporation superintendent Jeremy Gulley at 10:40 p.m. Sunday, adding that the rest of the building looked normal except a few ceiling panels. He also noted the heating ventilation and cooling equipment strewn across the property. “You’ve got a lot of fluids and items that are associated with HVAC that are now on the floor in that portion of the building.”

A house owned by Kyle Love, a junior-senior high teacher, at 2041 Indiana 67 in the Beacon Heights addition had most of its roof torn off. He was watching “Football Night in America” and awaiting the start of the Sunday Night Football game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Atlanta Falcons to begin when the storm hit.

    Most of the roof was torn off of this house owned by Kyle Love at 2041 Indiana 67. The portion of the roof that remains over the garage was part of an addition to the original structure. “I saw debris flying everywhere,” said Love. “The next thing you know, I saw my front porch covering lift off the ground and I was struck with falling ceiling. That knocked me down to the couch. “Insulation was flying everywhere, so it was hard to see, hard to breathe, hard to know what was going on.” (The Commercial Review/Ray Cooney)
  

“I was watching TV, scrolling through TikTok, waiting for the game to start, relaxing, and heard rain. And then all of a sudden the sound kind of changed — almost a jet engine type of sound, like a really weird, high-speed wind sound,” said Love.

The noise prompted him to get up off the couch and look out his front window.

“I saw debris flying everywhere,” Love added. “The next thing you know, I saw my front porch covering lift off the ground and I was struck with falling ceiling. That knocked me down to the couch.

“Insulation was flying everywhere, so it was hard to see, hard to breathe, hard to know what was going on.”

There was damage to other surrounding houses — some of it caused by pieces of Love’s home being thrown around by the wind — as well as downed trees and branches.

The most significant evidence of damage on the exterior of the junior-senior high on Sunday evening was the housing from a large air-handling unit that ended up on the front lawn. The rest of the area in front of the school was scattered with pieces of metal and debris from trees. A tree was uprooted on the south side of the school and the stop sign at the main entrance was folded in half.

Photos provided by Jay Schools show colored liquid in the hallways of the junior high area of the building. There is also a significant hole in the roof. 

Photo Gallery

Storm damage (09/22/2024)

Gulley said there was no indication of damage to any other schools.

But he added that the corporation’s internet systems are partially controlled at the junior-senior high building.

“I need time over the next 24 hours to assess all of these things,” said Gulley. “And giving a day off, canceling school with no remote learning allows us to let everything pause and assess and focus on that situation and issue there. That’s why it’s just canceled.”

The American Legion post, 211 W. Walnut St., lost the bulk of its second story.

“Nobody was here, so we got lucky there,” said Butch Micheau of the American Legion on Monday morning.

Rubble was concentrated in the parking lot on the northwest side of the building. (Ship Street was closed briefly Sunday night between Main and Walnut streets because of debris from the building.)

“This is the entire roof off the second floor,” Micheau added, looking at the pile of debris in the parking lot. “Of course, there’s water damage upstairs.”

The storm also destroyed the building’s air conditioning unit that had been installed just four weeks earlier.

The adjacent Jay County Community Corrections building, 120 and 122 N. Commerce St., which houses apartments upstairs, was also hit. Deputy director Gary Hendershot explained to Jay County Commissioners during their meeting Monday that the structure’s roof came off during the storm, exposing the apartments above Jay County Community Corrections to rain. Water has since trickled down into the western portion — it includes a restroom and conference room — of Jay County Community Corrections’s space on the first floor, leading to about 4 inches of standing water and a collapsed ceiling, noted Hendershot. The front eastern portion of the first floor, which houses Jay County Community Corrections’ offices, has no damage.

The storm moved generally east, with downed trees in the Sheffer Acres neighborhood across county road 75 South from the junior-senior high as well as the Beacon Heights addition, then along Tyson Road with a semi trailer overturned in front of Tyson Mexican Original at 1355 W. Tyson Road, trees snapped at Rose Drive and Oak Street and soccer goals overturned between Oak and Charles streets. 

“We were upstairs getting ready to put the kids to bed and then the house kind of shook and we looked out the window and there was trees down,” said Bridget Reinhart, a resident of Joan Drive in Sheffer Acres. “So it was quick. I had no idea it was coming.”

Another tree was snapped along Water Street just east of Charles Street, with the path of damage continuing generally between Water and Walnut streets. A large piece of a tree that came down along the Noble Street side of a house at 430 W. Main St. landed on two cars. Harrison Street between Main and Walnut streets was still closed Monday morning because of a downed tree.

“I was in the garage,” said Osmar Gonzalez, 17, who lives at the intersection of Williams and Main streets. “The house started shaking. … As soon as I came out, the tree fell on my car. There was nothing I could do about it, but I was trying to keep calm because of my little brothers.”

    Jay County Junior-Senior High School and Portland American Legion Post 211 were severely damaged during a storm Sunday evening. Pictured above, a piece of metal debris is intertwined with a snapped tree in front of the junior-senior high. All Jay Schools were closed Monday. At right, what used to be the second floor of the American Legion post sits in the parking lot on the northwest side of the building. (The Commercial Revew/Bailey Cline)
  

After Love’s house was hit, he called 911 and then headed across Indiana 67 to the junior-senior high property to wait for first responders.

“The medics checked me out. And they did a great job,” said Love, who also works for Portland Fire Department. “They were phenomenal. And everybody was super quick to get there.

“I would say within three to five minutes there were multiple ambulances, multiple firetrucks, multiple sheriff’s deputies, multiple city (officers), all within that mile range there. I mean, they sent the cavalry and they came quick.”

A text alert sent out at 7:57 p.m. Sunday indicated that a tornado touched down “outside of Portland.” The National Weather Service was on hand Monday for an assessment.

In a press release at noon Monday, Jay County Emergency Management Agency said no injuries had been reported.

State officials had reached out to school personnel to offer assistance, but Gulley said he feels it is within the capacity of local officials to handle.

He said he has contacted the school corporation’s insurance company and expects a representative to be on hand Monday. He has also reached out to architectural firm Barton Coe Vilamaa, which led the renovation project in the area of the building that was damaged, for support from its structural engineering professionals.

Though there are not currently any structural concerns, Gulley said an assessment will be done to ensure safety.

School officials were at the building Sunday evening, with caution tape along the junior high portion of the building facing Indiana 67 and wrapping around the south corner.

Assessing the overall situation, Gulley said he was thankful it was not worse.

“Blessed, blessed that this did not result in any injury to students or staff since the building was primarily unoccupied with the exception of a custodian or two,” he said. “If this had happened at another part of the day, we would have a very different tomorrow. I’m just very grateful that there’s been no injuries here. But there is significant damage to a portion of that building.”

Anyone who needs to report damage can do so by calling Jay County Emergency Management Agency at (260) 726-6908.

Tornado sirens began going off in Portland shortly before 8 p.m. Sunday. At that point, there was no indication of a thunderstorm or tornado watch or warning from the National Weather Service.

A few minutes later, a text alert went out indicating that a tornado had touched down outside of Portland.

A pair of text alerts sent at 8:05 p.m. notified residents that Tyson Road was closed and indicated “heavy damage with Portland city limits,” asking residents to stay inside with the exception of emergencies.

In addition to Jay County, there was also damage in Delaware County with a report of a tornado near Yorktown.

As of 9:30 a.m. Monday, about 100 Indiana Michigan Power customers were without power. The company expected to have service restored by 4 p.m.

Jay County Emergency Management Agency planned to work with the National Weather Service of northern Indiana on a damage assessment Monday.

According to the emergency management agency press release, Tyson Mexican Original was closed for its first shift on Monday. Second-shift employees should have reported to work.