Thunderstorm Wind — Elkhart, Indiana

2005-06-05 · near Countywide, Elkhart, Indiana

Event narrative

Widespread damage was reported across Elkhart county ahead of a bow echo that raced east affecting locations south of US 20 and north of US 6. A 50 year old man was outside preparing to place his truck into shelter when the storm struck, blowing part of a barn roof off and onto the gentleman. Family members pulled him from the debris and he was rushed to the hospital where he subsequently died of multiple injuries a few hours later. A survey team was sent to the scene the next day. The damage was confirmed to be from straight line winds. Numerous reports of wind gusts in the 65 to 70 mph range were received, with the Goshen ASOS unit recording a 69 mph gust at 415 pm EST. A maintenance hanger door was damaged by the strong winds. Trees were reported down in and around Nappanee, Goshen and Benton where a 1.5 foot diameter tree was blown down. A RV was flipped over near Millersburg at the intersection of county road 34 and State Route 13. Numerous reports of funnel clouds were received. Some pictures taken by local resident showed large dust plumes being stirred up by the strong winds, but no tornadoes could be confirmed.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (41.1000, -85.0667)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 5457483. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.