Emergency declared

An emergency has been declared.

Jay County Commissioners during an emergency meeting Thursday afternoon approved a resolution declaring a state of emergency in Jay County following the Sunday evening tornado.

Amy Blakely of Jay County Emergency Management Agency presented the resolution to commissioners, explaining that it is a step in potentially receiving state and/or federal assistance with the clean-up and recovery from the storm.

She said the agency’s damage assessment is complete, with 88 structures impacted by the tornado.

Of those, the bulk — 71 — were in the “affected” category. Out of 74 residential properties, three sustained major damage and 11 had minor damage. Out of 14 commercial buildings, one had major damage and two had minor damage. 

Blakely noted that those numbers do not include Jay County Junior-Senior High School, where there was significant damage.

Commissioners Chad Aker and Brian McGalliard, absent Rex Journay, approved the emergency declaration. They also approved lifting the county-wide burn ban that had been in place for nearly two weeks.

Blakely also told commissioners there has been a request that the county highway department assist with removing debris from trees in the Sheffer Acres neighborhood south of the junior-senior high school. She noted that any governmental agencies working on storm clean-up should track employee hours, fuel and equipment used for potential reimbursement.

The storm came through just before 8 p.m. Sunday, with one tornado forming briefly in a cornfield before a second stronger tornado developed near Joan Drive in Sheffer Acres. It “quickly gained intensity as it tracked east northeast,” according to a press release from the National Weather Service, with winds reaching 110 miles per hour. (It was rated an EF-1 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale.) It traveled 2.74 miles, damaging the junior high area and IMC (library) of the junior-senior high, ripping most of the roof off of the home at 2041 Indiana 67 and continuing east. It reached a maximum width of 75 yards, mostly resulting in damage to trees as it moved into Portland before causing significant damage to the second floor of the American Legion post at 211 W. Walnut St.

Indiana Department of Homeland Security has created a hotline for residents of Jay County to report damage from Sunday's storms at in211.communityos.org or (866) 211-9966.

A recovery meeting has been scheduled for 2 p.m. Friday at Portland Fire Department.