A 4-year-old was killed when a tree fell on a home in Geneva Township, Indiana, around 3:30 p.m. Tuesday
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Deputies found the 4-year-old boy trapped in a back bedroom where the tree had fallen, and he was pronounced dead at the scene, while three other people inside the home got out safely
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Deputies believe the heavy winds that came with storms moving through the county led to the tree falling
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The victim’s name has not been released out of respect for the family
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Chief Deputy Cody Law, of the Jennings County Sheriff’s Office, addressed the tragedy publicly.
“Pray for the family. This is obviously unexpected,” Law said. “Pray for the first responders that have to go through it. It’s a bad situation. There’s nothing we can say that’s going to make it any better.”
At least six tornadoes were confirmed after a preliminary derecho swept from eastern Iowa through northern Illinois and into northern Indiana on August 11
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The storms were determined to be a derecho, which requires stretching at least 250 miles long and being at least 60 miles wide, with destructive winds of 90 to 100 mph moving across northern Indiana and extreme southern Michigan
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Damaging winds swept into Illinois, triggering Tornado Warnings across several areas Tuesday afternoon — including Aurora, Joliet, Naperville and downtown Chicago
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The tree death in Geneva Township was one of multiple fatalities linked to the severe weather outbreak.
In Ohio, Gov. Mike DeWine confirmed one person was killed after emergency responders were unable to reach the individual during a flooding emergency
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One person died after a home explosion in Portage on Tuesday, though officials have not said what caused it or whether it was storm-related
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Neighbors said they were out helping with downed trees and debris when they heard and felt the explosion, with one describing it: “It was just a big bonfire. It just went as high as you could imagine.”
First responders faced significant challenges reaching the scene because roads were blocked by fallen trees and power lines, with officers parked about a mile away and running on foot through neighborhoods to reach the home
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The cause of the explosion is under investigation, but officials say intense storms could have led to gas leaks, with underground piping disrupted by uprooted trees potentially causing problems with meters inside or outside homes
.
Meanwhile,
the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction confirmed that 16 people at Grafton Correctional Institution were struck by lightning Tuesday afternoon as incarcerated individuals were returning from their evening meal
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The individuals were transported to an outside hospital for treatment, with one of them having to be life-flighted
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As of Wednesday morning, nine of the individuals have been returned to the facility, with seven remaining hospitalized — six in stable condition and one in serious condition
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No deaths have been reported at the Lorain County prison
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More than 800,000 customers were still without power early Wednesday, with most of the outages concentrated across Ohio, Illinois and Indiana
.
All flights were temporarily stopped at Chicago’s two major airports, and officials warned of delays as the backlog was cleared
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In the viral moment that captured public attention, the Geneva Township tragedy symbolized the devastating human cost of the rare weather event.
The Jennings County Sheriff’s Office responded around 3:30 p.m. Tuesday after a tree fell on a home in a heavily wooded area of Geneva Township
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Deputies found a 4-year-old boy trapped in a back bedroom, which the tree had fallen onto
.
He was pronounced dead at the scene
.
Heavy winds that came with storms moving through the county led to the tree falling
.
The derecho brought wind gusts over 75 mph across a 300-mile-long stretch of the Midwest, from northeast Iowa to northern Indiana
.
The stormy pattern is expected to remain over the region for much of the week, with thunderstorms tapping into high humidity to produce heavy rain and flash flood threat, with Flood Watches in place through Friday morning across portions of Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, northeast Kentucky, western Virginia, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and East Tennessee
.
Deputies are encouraging the community to have backup batteries for their phones so they can get alerts that warn of tornadoes or severe thunderstorms
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