It’s been a long night in Greene County. Tornado touchdowns, rotating clouds, strong winds and torrential rain starting on the evening of Saturday, June 15, and continuing through the night and into Sunday, June 16, have taken a toll on families and businesses, especially in eastern Greene County but also in the Freedom area in southern Owen County as well as northwestern Greene County. Power outages and downed trees blocking roads have also been reported in other areas of Greene County.

The Center-Jackson Fire Territory first responded to a possible tornado touchdown in the area of State Road 54 and Crowe Road.

Center-Jackson Fire Chief Jeremy Inman said while they were enroute to the area, there were numerous trees and houses that were damaged from Eastern Elementary School to Crowe Road and Center-Jackson requested additional assistance to perform a primary search of the area for injuries and any other extreme emergencies.

Inman said no injuries were located but a natural gas main was found broken near State Road 445 and SR 45. The area was evacuated until the gas main could be secured.

According to various posts on Facebook by area residents, the ruptured gas main was located in the area of Pinewood Village and Hoosier Daddy’s Pub where a roof blew off and damaged the gas main. Late Sunday night, Hoosier Daddy’s Pub posted on their Facebook page that they suffered extensive damage and will be closed until further notice while they recover. No injuries were reported.

Widespread power outages were also reported. Late Saturday night, UDWI REMC said crews had been dispatched to several areas including one west of Worthington, the Freedom area as well as eastern Greene County. Around 1 a.m., UDWI REMC said, “It’s going to be a long night for our crews (line, tree and dispatch crews). As we have +3600 members out. These are some wide-spread outages. We are having a lot of power supply issues from the tornado, rain and wind. Please be patient as we work to get to you.”

According to a news release issued by Center-Jackson Fire around 4 a.m. Sunday, June 16, after the gas leak was secured, fire crews then started secondary searches along with moving and cutting trees from the roads.

Center-Jackson Fire reports the impacted areas include: Lawrence Hollow Estates, Shady Meadows II, Raines Road, Wolfe Road, Ray Road, Crowe Road, Eastern Lane and State Road 54.

Center-Jackson asks the public to please stay away from these areas while emergency crews work on getting these areas cleared out. They also ask if there are other areas that were damaged, please reach out and advise with further information and Center-Jackson will get crews out as soon as possible.

Chief Inman said, “During the storm, we were dispatched to a car fire on I-69, a car wreck on Sylvania Road and a medical call along with nearly 75 storm alarms.”

Center-Jackson thanks all those who responded to assist, including Eastern Fire Department, Taylor Fire Department, Richland Fire Department, INDOT (Indiana Department of Transportation), Indiana State Police, Greene County Sheriff’s Department, Bloomfield Police Department, Greene County Ambulance Service, Greene County Emergency Management Director Roger Axe, Greene County Highway Department, and the American Red Cross plus Grip’s Pizza who donated several pizzas.

If anyone was left off this list, it was unintentional as others also responded to help. For example, one resident along SR 54 reported seeing the Lyons Police Department on their way to the eastern Greene area.

Among the other numerous reports, residents in Worthington and points north, and Calvertville and points north reported rain during just one round of the storms measured 2.25 inches (in Worthington) up to 3 inches (Calvertville and northern Greene County).

Late Saturday night, Center-Fire also announced that their station was open for anyone needing shelter. For more information on the shelter, call Center-Fire at 812-825-2799 or the Greene County Sheriff’s Department at 812-384-4411.

Chief Inman added that several of the department’s firefighters and first responders also suffered damage during the storm as well as the area residents and businesses.

“Please keep these families in your thoughts and prayers along with members of our department,” said Inman. “Several members of our department suffered damage to their homes and will miss most of their Fathers Day celebrations.”