National Weather Service Louisville reported one tornado touched down at the Indiana University Southeast campus on Grant Line Road in New Albany before crossing to the nearby Carriage House apartments.
NWS meteorologist Ron Steve said this tornado, with speeds of up to 105 miles per hour, traveled for about half a mile and lasted a minute or less.
A second tornado, with speeds of 100 miles per hour, landed near Highway 111 and Five Mile Lane in the southern part of the county, causing damage to barns and throwing a storm shelter door around 100 yards. Steve said teams are assessing whether this tornado may have crossed the Ohio River into Louisville.
Monday afternoon, officials confirmed a third tornado that touched down near Hamby Road in Georgetown during the Sunday storm, causing extensive tree damage with speeds of 90 miles per hour.
Steve, with NWS, said in each case, the tornadoes sprung up and ended quickly. No tornado warnings were issued.
“We were expecting strong thunderstorms,” he said. “The problem with this is they're very short lived spin-ups within a line of thunderstorms and they're very hard to get any kind of advance warning on.”
As damage assessment continued into Monday afternoon, officials confirmed a fourth related tornado — an EF-0 with 80 mph winds in the Brookestone subdivision in Georgetown.
EF-0 tornadoes are the lowest class on the Enhanced Fujita Scale. They are rated based on damage assessment.
At IU Southeast there was damage to trees, power poles and buildings, with extensive roof damage at the apartments across the street. The National Weather Service reported two residents suffered head lacerations. Floyd County EMA Deputy Director Jason Mauch also said residents of several of the apartment buildings are displaced.
Photos shared by the City of New Albany show parts of the roof completely gone.
“I am shocked at the amount of damage and how quickly this storm rolled in,” New Albany Mayor Jeff Gahan said in a statement. “Many thanks to our safety officials for their quick response. I also really appreciate Duke Energy’s and CenterPoint’s effort to restore power and gas to the residents as quickly as possible. I am very grateful no one was hurt and we had emergency personnel on the scene when we needed them.”
Nancy Jo Trafton, director of Marketing and Communications at IU Southeast, said multiple trees were damaged or uprooted, mostly around the central and southern part of the scenic campus. There was roof damage mainly to the life sciences building.
She said staff and others came together quickly to clean up the public areas for Monday’s commencement ceremony, which Trafton said was successful but shortened in case of more severe weather.
Administration is determining whether the storm damage will affect any summer classes. Classes that would normally be in the life sciences building will not be impacted, as there were already plans to rehabilitate that area this summer.
Lisa Huber, government and community relations manager at Duke Energy, said more than 2,400 customers in Clark and Floyd counties were without power following the Sunday storms. All service was restored as of 6 a.m. Monday.
This story has been updated with additional information.
Coverage of Southern Indiana is funded, in part, by Samtec, Inc. and the Hazel & Walter T. Bales Foundation.
