Confirmed F1 Tornado Leaves Path of Destruction in Southern Indiana

Dubois Co. - An early-morning tornado, and Monday morning's severe thunderstorms left a path of destruction in local communities.

Haysville, Cuzco, Hillham, Portersville, and Paoli were among the many to be affected overnight. While their property may not have fared well through the storm, no injuries have been reported.

"That's the blessing," said Dubois County Emergency Management Director Tammy Humbert. "So far, there's not been any injuries that have been reported to me or dispatch, at this this time.

Building collapse west of Haysville (Photo: WITZ's Deanna Baur)

While storms rolled in, eventually turning from a 'Severe Thunderstorm Watch' into a 'Tornado Warning', Humbert says it was clear early on that there was the potential for damaging weather.

"We started getting reports of trees down, shingles off roofs, et cetera, just a lot of damage being reported on the north side up by Haysville," Humbert said. "We sent out everyone to start doing some assessments. I already had a great feeling last night that we were under a tornado."

And we were.

The National Weather Service was on site in Haysville to confirm that an F1 tornado, with winds in excess of 90 miles-per-hour, had touched down.

Outdoor building stripped of siding (Photo submitted by Darlene Rust)

For some, it was the loss of a barn, for others it was patio furniture.

Patio furniture mangled in Monday's storm (Photo submitted by Micheala Keller

For many, though, it was a loss of power. At its peak, more than 4,000 homes and businesses were affected by the outages, says Dubois Rural Electric Cooperative General Manager Joe Henson.

"We saw some substations go completely out, the transmission that feeds those substations went down," Henson said. "...The storm continue to go up Highway 56 from Haysville to Cuzco and Hillham. It had done a lot of damage to our distribution system - we had around 4,100 out at one point."

By 11:00 a.m., only 483 were without power. Dubois REC pulled in additional help from Southern Indiana Power and the City of Jasper.

While residents continue to clean up their properties, Henson says if it's down - whether its a power line or a tree - it's best not to go near it.

Fallen trees and damaged lines on C.R. 200 near Haysville.

"I've seen lines on the ground, please don't approach any line that's on the ground," Henson said. "Just because it's on the ground doesn't mean it's de-energized. Assume everything is energized and don't touch a thing."

Also a hazard - hanging limbs.

"There's still a lot of trees out there that are questionable, that are hanging over houses, over roads, over driveways, over yards," Henson says. "I would be careful with the children, allowing them to go out."

For homes that have been damaged by falling trees or high-speed winds, reaching out for help early is key.

"The first thing is, make sure, if you have damage, that you contact your insurance company," Humbert said. "That's number one, get that done."

"We have to meet an astronomical dollar amount for any kind of assistance from anywhere other than ourselves," Humbert added.

In the coming days, the Dubois EMA plans to establish a call-line to report damages in addition to debris drop-offs. WITZ will relay clean-up efforts, services, and information as it becomes available.