Emergency officials are attributing Friday’ night’s storm damage to straight line winds and not a tornado.

Shannan Hinton, the Bartholomew County Emergency Management Director says that the wind damage was in a line for about 14 miles with most of the damage happening in the eastern portion of the county. She said there was a weak funnel near Clifty Creek, Base Road and Highland Ridge but it did not appear to touchdown.

She says that two homes were affected, four outbuildings were destroyed, and one outbuilding suffered major damage.

Many Bartholomew County REMC and Duke Energy customers were without power until yesterday. Duke Energy was still reporting seven customers without power near Fairlawn Drive and 25th Street in Columbus as of 6 a.m. today.

The National Weather Service has issued a flood warning for many rivers in our area. That includes the Driftwood, East Fork White and Flat Rock Rivers and Sugar Creek. The agency says minor to moderate flooding is expected through Wednesday afternoon.

The Driftwood River at Edinburgh was at 10.1 feet this morning, with a flood stage of 11 feet. The river is expected to crest at near 11.1 feet by tomorrow morning and fall below flood stage by Wednesday.

East Fork White River at Seymour crested yesterday at about 3 feet and 8 inches above the 12-foot flood stage. It is expected to stay in the minor flood stage until Thursday morning.

To stay safe, never drive into flood water. Turn around and go
another way. You should also keep children away from flooded areas.