Brought to you by WBIW News and Network Indiana
Last updated on Friday, August 17, 2012
(BEDFORD) - Violent storms blew through Lawrence County and much of the surrounding region Thursday evening, felling trees and downing power lines.
However, comparatively little damage was done, according to authorities, and the storms brought welcome rains .
Nearly three inches fell across much of southern central Indiana. Sporadic power outages struck across the county, with power lost in Bedford, Mitchell and Oolitic.
Many of the outages were short lived, but 18th and O streets were still without power early this morning.
There were also reports of outages in Greene and Orange counties.
Several power lines were down when trees and limbs fell taking down power lines and transformers blew, keeping Bedford and volunteer fire departments in the county busy.
"But not as busy as I thought we would be," says Bedford Fire Department Chief Jon Wagner. "We dodged a bullet with this storm"
A resident on 2nd Street reported their home was hit by lightening, but when firefighters arrived there was no damage.
A transformer on 17th blew, causing a power surge and smoke.
"This was a strange one," Wagner says. "All of the lights came on in the home and the ceiling fans were running at an extremely fast speed." Wagner says. "Firefighters have never seen anything like this. Duke Energy was at the scene and was replacing the meter and asked the homeowners to have their wiring checked out. I am sure they will have some damage with that kind of power surge."
Today's rains which fell, averaging nearly three inches across much of South Central Indiana, were more than the total amount which fell between May and July, when a drought struck the area, according to a bulletin released by Jesse Walker, chief meteorologist of WTWO-TV.
Even better, the welcome rain, though accompanied by severe storm warnings, brought no serious injuries.
Sporadic power outages struck across Bloomfield, Switz City and Linton, as well as other scattered outages.
A power line was downed near Linton-Stockton High School by the intersection of Main and H Street NW around 7 p.m. However, utility trucks quickly responded.
Greene County firefighters reported no blazes resulting from lightning strikes, nor any rescue calls resulting from the storms.
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