Friday, October 19, 2007

 

TORNADO GOES THRU NAPPANEE INDIANA

RV Business
Friday, October 19, 2007

A tornado packing winds of 160 mph Thursday night (Oct. 18) swept across a portion of northern Indiana, damaging hundreds of businesses and homes, including Nappanee-based Gulf Stream Coach Inc., Fairmount Homes and Franklin Coach Co. Inc., according to the Associated Press.

The storm also sent five people from Nappanee to hospitals with what police said were minor injuries.

Nappanee officials declared a state of emergency, asking people in the city about 20 miles southeast of South Bend to stay indoors and all businesses to stay closed Friday.

The storm damaged 200 to 250 buildings, state police Sgt. Tony Slocum said. Of those, 100 to 150 were destroyed or severely damaged, he said.

The storm also wrecked parts of three recreation vehicle and manufactured housing plants — Fairmont Homes, Gulf Stream and Franklin Coach — that are among the city's largest employers.

The storm ripped the roof from a Gulf Stream Coach factory on the city's east side and flipped over dozens of recreational vehicles parked outside.

"Those units are just everywhere," Mayor Larry Thompson said. "Upside down, piled on top of each other. There is a lot of damage.

"We just have a lot of people hugging each other and thanking God that we're alive."

Gulf Stream Coach sustained "pretty hefty" damage and Franklin Coach Co. looked to be destroyed as company officials examined the scenes Friday morning, according to the Elkhart Truth.

"I have not even absorbed it yet," Franklin plant manager David Mekley said while standing in a field of rubble.

Managers and supervisors from Gulf Stream were scheduled to meet Friday to discuss the devastation.

"We definitely took a hit," said Gulf Stream spokesman Dean Crane.

However, the RV maker did not report any injuries.

"Everyone is still walking and breathing," Crane said.

"The tornado went across the east end of town about two miles from our factory,'" John Sammut, Newmar Corp. vice president of sales, told RV Business. "Our buildings are intact and none of our inventory was damaged."

In accordance with the emergency declaration, Newmar's offices were closed for the day.

Per Nappanee Police, U.S. 6 from S.R. 15 to S.R. 19 was closed because of downed power lines and massive amounts of debris, and S.R. 19 was closed from C.R. 46 to 1350 North in Kosciusko County. Northern Indiana Public Service Co. estimated more than 4,000 homes are without power and it may be several days before all power is restored, according to police.

All businesses in Nappanee were asked to stay closed today.

"Many people are waking up this morning and have no idea what happened last night. They don't have electricity, they won't have water, and most roads are closed," said Sgt. Trent Smith, Indiana State Police public information officer.

Resident Bill Anglin said that when he heard the tornado siren Thursday night, he was at one end of his house, his wife at the other and they ran to the center.

"As we met in the middle of the house, the house came down on us. A chair held the ceiling up enough that we crawled out from under it and we walked out to this," he said pointing to the damaged neighborhood. "When we came out the front door, the rain was just sideways blowing across."

The storm blew the roof off Nathan Brokholder's home onto Indiana 19. The back wall was knocked down, but most of the interior walls were still standing.

Groceries were strewn on his lawn, which was filled with downed trees, and his pole barn was destroyed.

Brokholder said he and his wife were still upstairs, trying to make it to the basement when the storm hit about 10:30 p.m.

"You can't describe" the sound, he said. "It's one of the most powerful things I've ever heard. Look around, almost everything is gone."

A National Weather Service survey team on Friday confirmed a tornado caused damage in the Nappanee area of southern Elkhart County.

No other major storm damage was reported elsewhere in northern Indiana, said Michael Sabones, meteorologist-in-charge of the weather service's office in Syracuse.

The same storm system caused scattered damage elsewhere in Indiana and tornadoes touched down in Kentucky and Michigan.



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