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No Fatalities As Tornado Tears Through Indianapolis

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The Associated Press

Published: June 1, 2008

INDIANAPOLIS - Residents cleaned up Saturday after a tornado plowed a trail of destruction through the east side of Indianapolis, but they gave thanks that nobody was killed and that the only injuries were minor.

The storm blew through late Friday, ripping roofs off several apartment buildings, snapping trees and toppling power lines.

Eighteen people were treated for "very minor" injuries, said John Ball, the area's emergency management director.

"It is a miracle that we didn't have serious injuries or death," Ball said.

"A gentleman told me last night at the shelter that he was lying in bed and heard a rumble, and the roof was gone and he saw the sky," he said.

Winds snapped trees, wrapped metal sheeting around a telephone pole and left a four-block-wide trail of debris about a mile long.
Gas station pumps were knocked over, roof shingles were shredded, and power lines and tree branches were scattered.

The American Red Cross of Greater Indianapolis housed 170 people overnight in a church gymnasium near a destroyed apartment complex in the city of nearly 800,000.

"Some of these folks came in with the clothes on their backs or pajamas, and they were soaked, too," said Red Cross spokeswoman Beth Smietana.

The tornado was part of a system that swept through the Midwest with heavy rain, high winds, thunder and lightning.

Damage was also reported in Illinois, as well as in Ohio, where a tornado destroyed several homes near Arcadia.

Near Washington, D.C., firefighters reported a possible tornado, but no injuries or damage were reported.

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