Three days after a tornado ripped through Whiteland, Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch toured the areas of devastation with local officials.
For almost two hours, Crouch was shown the destruction the EF-3 tornado caused throughout the town. Whiteland Fire Chief Eric Funkhouser, Whiteland Community Development Director Carmen Young, and Johnson County Emergency Management Director Stephanie Sichting accompanied Crouch for the tour.
Seeing the devastation was both shocking and humbling, she said.
“I’m humbled because we realize when we see this kind of devastation that we aren’t in control of our lives,” Crouch said.
After meeting with local officials at Whiteland Town Hall, Crouch was escorted through the town — stopping first at what remained of a recently-finished warehouse at Mohr Logistics Park. A tenant was scheduled to move into the building, but no one was occupying it when the tornado came through.
Walls were collapsed, the building’s metal frame crumpled, leaving parts of the building flattened. Officials believe the tornado went right through middle of the more than one million square-foot warehouse.
This was also where EF-3 damage was found, according to the National Weather Service.
Further south, the tornado destroyed or damaged many homes on East Pearl Street. Damaged varied from home-to-home, with some having major roof damage and one home having only a concrete slab remaining.
One man who lived on the street had tried to enter his bathroom, but was unable to before the twister hit. The next thing he remembered was waking up in a yard bruised and without his socks and shoes. He then ran to a friend’s house located a mile away in darkness, Funkhouser said.
His home was completely levelled, leaving only a concrete slab and a pile of debris.
The man’s story was unbelievable, Crouch said. She also spoke with Fire Angels President Brittany Painter, who was handing out water to nearby residents and volunteers.
In the Park Forest neighborhood, near where the tornado first touched down and where significant damage was reported, Crouch spoke with homeowners whose home was severely damaged.
The roof of Glenn and Debbie Gant’s home was gone, windows were blown out and part of the back wall collapsed on the porch. Their backyard had been littered with debris from not only their home, but their neighbors’ damaged homes.
But by Monday afternoon, a lot of the debris had been organized into piles thanks to neighbors and volunteers — including students and staff from Clark-Pleasant schools, Glenn Gant said.
Glenn and his wife were home at the time the twister hit, though in different areas. He had only just gotten up with the tornado hit, he said.
Luckily, both escaped without injuries, and were thankful they survived. The Gants were shocked by the devastation and what the tornado didn’t disturb.
A glass dish of brownies Debbie Gant made earlier this week were left undisturbed on a kitchen island, she said. The rest of the kitchen received severe damage.
Glenn Gant also said a couple of family photos that were lost amid the destruction were found more than 10 miles away near Clark Elementary School.
The Gants, along with their neighbors, were thankful to see Crouch come by and let them to know the state was ready to offer aid. Glenn Gant and Crouch hugged before she left, and Debbie Gant later hugged Funkhouser, thanking him for the work first responders had done.
Crouch said it was a “blessing” there were no fatalities or injuries, and it was “joyful” to see Hoosiers come out and support their neighbors amid the devastation. Throughout her tour of the town, volunteers were out in force helping their neighbors clean up.
Knowing that members of the community had turned out to help in such force was unbelievable at first, she said. But once she was told there was more devastation and debris the day prior, it made her proud.
“It just really makes me proud and it’s also very encouraging,” she said. “I’m very hopeful and optimistic because Whiteland will come together … and it’ll be stronger and better as a result.”
Like Crouch, Funkhouser couldn’t believe the amount of work that volunteers had done to remove debris and help affected residents.
“It’s just amazing how much work all of the volunteers have done today cleaning it up,” he said.
Funkhouser had no worries about the community recovering, especially in light of how far how much had already been done in three days. Community members and volunteers have come together, and everyone’s thankful, he said.
“They’re just wanting to get back to normal,” Funkhouser said. “I absolutely think that the community will rebuild and get everything back to where it needs to be and it’s exciting to see.”
Like Funkhouser, Crouch is hopeful the town can rebuild.
“We will rebuild here in Whiteland bigger and better than before,” Crouch said. “…We will build better and Whiteland will be stronger.”
