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by Eloise Lushina, WSBT22 News Reporter
WHEATFIELD, Ind. (WSBT) — Communities responded to storm damage after a EF1 tornado tore through the town of Wheatfield in Jasper County, just west of North Judson.
Officials say the damage is extensive in Wheatfield.
At the intersection of State Road 49 and State Road 10, multiple squad cars blocked off the road leading to the hardest hit homes while crews worked to repair downed power lines.
Police and fire officials say that at least 10 to 15 homes have severe damage, with a lot of electric poles being snapped and are down.
The roads are blocked as crews work to repair those downed power lines. They say it could take at least 3 days for those repairs to be complete.
Officials said there were three reported minor injuries, with two of those people being transported to the hospital while the third one was treated and released.
WSBT asked the Wheatfield Fire Chief if he can describe what he saw on that closed road?
“Where the tornado went through, a lot of houses are just gone. Roofs are taken off, said Chief Mark Ratliff, Wheatfield Fire Department. “Damage is very bad. Worse I've seen it, and I've been here my whole life.”
The damage did not stop with those homes.
A solar farm was hit hard just a few miles east from here.
A field just east of State Road 10 is filled with scraps of metal and dented solar panels.
Tuesday night's tornado hit the town of Wheatfield and badly damaged the solar farm there.
The solar farm is located on North County Road 300 East, east of State Road 10.
That's where NIPSCO is currently working on the surrounding downed power lines and fallen trees.
"Just the path of the tornado that came through, we have several large solar fields to the east of the town here it went right through the solar field and just ripped a lot of them out," said Brandon Napier, Chief Deputy of Jasper County Sheriff's Department.
Officials say the community response and support has been tremendous.
The American Red Cross is at Kankakee Valley High School distributing food and water. The organization set up there for people to seek shelter and to get out of the rain and cold.
"We've had some severe weather that passed through the town of wheatfield last night and the red cross was asked to come out and help,” said Richard Mah, Red Cross Service Associate. "It's heartwarming to see that the community is pulling together and wanting to help their fellow neighbors."
The Red Cross will be in the community to help out as long as there's a need.
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