Re : 22 doden in VS door tornado

Storm knocked down trees, power lines in ECI
By RICK YENCER


MUNCIE - East Central Indiana had only scattered damage and power outages Sunday as a strong thunderstorm ripped through during the early morning hours, with straight-line winds in excess of 60 miles an hour.

"Straight-line winds can be underestimated," said Sam Lashley, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. "They can be just as powerful as a tornado."

In the wake of a tornado that struck Evansville around 2 a.m., killing more than 20 people, a strong thunderstorm moved through Muncie and Anderson after 3 a.m.

No injuries were reported to local public safety agencies, although Indiana & Michigan Power Co. reported 1,156 customers in the Muncie area were without power. The hardest hit was Marion, with nearly 800 customers without power and barn and mobile home damage reported there and in Upland. Scattered outages were reported in Muncie and Albany.

"We had a few trees in power lines and had a few residents who had mail boxes blown away," said Kevin Conley, a dispatcher with the Blackford County Sheriff's Department.

Mike Brian, I&M's corporate communications director, said ECI was spared much of the damage from the thunderstorm, which disrupted power for more than 27,000 customers in Fort Wayne.

"Although it was a significant storm, we had an awful lot of customers who enjoyed morning breakfast," he said.

It might be today or even Wednesday before some scattered outages are repaired. Recent tree trimming work by the utility after January's ice storm helped keep trees out of power lines, Brian said.

Lashley, who mans the NWS station in North Webster, said fall thunderstorms and tornados can be more deadly because of the potential for stronger winds.

"We have a much stronger jet stream this time of year," said Lashley, who said straight-line winds that bring down trees and power lines are usually associated with hurricanes.

While many people associate tornados with spring and summer, Arnold said severe weather also can occur in the fall, warned David Arnold, a meteorologist at Ball State University. "If you just go back two or three years, we have had significant tornados in the fall," he said.

The last fall tornado in Delaware County was in September 2002, when a church and a handful of homes were damaged near Gaston. Sunday's damage in Evansville was the worst since tornados ripped through Indiana - including Randolph County - in 1974.

Because fall tornados are fueled by strong upper-level winds, they can occur in the middle of the night, when people least expect them, Arnold said.

Arnold received numerous reports of winds between 60 and 70 miles an hour in ECI, although the weather station at the Delaware County Airport reported a 47-mile-an-hour wind at 3:17 a.m.

Less than a quarter inch of rain fell in Muncie because the storm was so fast moving.

Night storms pose threat

Tornados and thunderstorms during fall months are generally fueled by strong winds from upper-level jet streams and not from heat and humidity. And those jet streams travel at night, spawning destructive winds.

David Arnold, Ball State University meteorologist, says that nighttime tornadoes pose one of the greatest weather threats. "They develop and move very quickly," said Arnold. "That cuts down the lead time on the warning."

When tornadoes happen during the night, many people who are sleeping don't even know the threat exists. Arnold said weather warning systems should be installed in televisions and radios that could help make people more of National Weather Service warnings and watches.