3 people killed during damaging severe storms in Indiana Friday night

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- At least three people died in Indiana during severe storms Friday night into Saturday morning.

All of the deaths were reported in Sullivan County, west of Bloomington, on the Illinois border.

“Homes in both the city and county are severely damaged and some are completely leveled,” Sullivan County Sheriff Jason Bobbitt posted on social media. “Our worst fears became a reality earlier when we learned that members of our community have lost their lives.”

The sheriff also said crews are keeping an eye on multiple gas leaks and dangerous power lines.

"We heard whistles like a train, it was just roaring. Our ears started having a bad pressure, we couldn't, we had to put our hands over our ears," one resident said. "Everybody was running to the basement and we got down there and I heard glass shattering and when we came back up, everything was just gone."

Gov. Eric Holcomb signed an executive order Saturday declaring a disaster emergency in Sullivan and Johnson counties.

The storms, with heavy rain and high winds, rolled through Kentuckiana between 11 p.m. Friday and 2 a.m. Saturday. While a portion of the area dodged the worst of the storms, Whiteland, Indiana, about 30 minutes south of Indianapolis, was in the direct line of a possible tornado.

A tornado warning was issued there around 11:30 p.m. Friday. Communities saw severe and significant damage, and there were reports of multiple businesses and homes leveled, that left people trapped. Whiteland Police posted on Twitter around 3 a.m. Saturday that everyone was safe and accounted for. Whiteland High School and Greenwood Middle School have since opened up as shelters.

Damage was also reported in Bloomington, Indiana, where campers had to be evacuated from McCormick's Creek State Park. No serious injuries were reported.

Counties in southern Indiana were under a high wind warning on Saturday, where Duke Energy is taking precautions.

As of 4 p.m. Saturday, 104 customers were without power in Scott County, 195 in Floyd County, 66 in Clark County and 4 in Harrison County.

To look at Duke Energy's outage map, or report an outage, click here.