At Least 2 Dead In Fierce Storm That Damaged Homes And Businesses In 3 States

WINCHESTER, Ind. (AP) — Police in Ohio confirmed two deaths resulting from a fierce storm system that unleashed suspected twisters and damaged homes and businesses in parts of Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana on Thursday.

Chief Deputy Joe Kopus of the Logan County Sheriff’s Office in Bellefontaine, Ohio, confirmed the fatalities in an email to The Associated Press early Friday. He said there likely would be more fatalities discovered, noting there was heavy damage in Lakeview, Midway, Orchard Island and Russells Point.

The Indiana State Police said there are “many significant injuries” after a tornado tore through the community of Winchester.

“There have been many, many significant injuries, but I don’t know the number. I don’t know where they are. I don’t know what those injuries are,” Indiana State Police Superintendent Douglas Carter told reporters just before midnight Thursday. “There’s a lot that we don’t know yet.”

Earlier in the night, state police said they were investigating reports of deaths but at the news conference Carter said there were “no known fatalities.”

State officials called on Indiana Task Force One to help with search efforts in Winchester, a town of 4,700 people located nearly 70 miles (112 kilometers) northeast of Indianapolis, according to a post by the rescue team on X. The team is one of 28 Department of Homeland Security and Federal Emergency Management Agency-sponsored Urban Search and Rescue teams in the United States.

“I’m shaken; it’s overwhelming,” Winchester Mayor Bob McCoy said. “I heard what sounded like a train and then I started hearing sirens.”

He and his wife were hunkered in a closet during the twister, which hit about 8 p.m.

“I’ve never heard that sound before; I don’t want to hear it