SOUTH CENTRAL INDIANA–What began as a simple Winter Weather Advisory for the south-central Indiana area transformed into an Ice Storm Warning from the National Weather Service (NWS) in Indianapolis overnight Wednesday into Thursday. As a result, several communities awakened to a morning without power and to a significant accumulation of ice on cars, trees, and sidewalks.
Many trees and tree limbs came down under the weight of the ice, causing road hazards and power outages for thousands across Columbus and the state. In Bartholomew County, Duke Energy and Bartholomew County REMC reported a total of over 10,000 customers without power at the height of the outage. Chip Orben of Duke Energy said that about 5000 of their customers on the northeast side of Columbus had power restored by 7:15 a.m.
Many school administrators cancelled school in several districts, including Bartholomew Consolidated School Corporation, Flat Rock-Hawcreek School Corporation, Seymour Community Schools, Brown County Schools, Jennings County Schools, North and South Decatur County Schools, and Greensburg Community Schools. Other school systems operated on a delay.
For a complete listing of school closings and delays throughout the area, go to our Team Weather Watch page.