Tornadoes and Injuries Reported as Severe Weather Tears Through Midwest

Severe storms tore through three Midwestern states on Thursday, producing reports of damaging tornadoes across Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana and injuring dozens of people.

In eastern Indiana, the towns of Winchester in Randolph County and Selma in Delaware County appeared to be badly hit. Local officials said they believed a tornado had hit a trailer park in Winchester according to 13 WTHR, an NBC News affiliate, and a pastor said his church had been destroyed. Meteorologists said they were working to confirm that a tornado had touched down there.

In Ohio, The Associated Press, citing Chief Deputy Joe Kopus of the Logan County Sheriff’s Office in Bellefontaine, said at least two people were killed there, and that more fatalities were expected.

In Randolph County, Ind., local media reports said three people had been killed there, but a state police public information officer said they could not confirm any deaths. The county’s homeland security emergency management office said in a statement early Friday that 38 people had been injured, with 12 transported to hospitals.

“Radar data and reports from spotters and local officials are highly suggestive of a tornado,” Joseph Nield, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Indianapolis, said on Thursday.