02:53 PM EDT on Friday, May 28, 2004

By KIMBERLY HEFLING / Associated Press Writer

Thunderstorms rolled through the hills of southern Indiana with destructive winds and blinding rain, leaving toppled trees and high water that blocked roads and stranded residents in remote areas in their homes.

Near the southeastern Indiana town of Martinsburg, about 25 miles northwest of Louisville, Ky., an apparent tornado damaged about 50 homes that were then struck by a flash flood Thursday night, authorities said. No injuries were reported.

“They kind of got hit by a double whammy,” said Ken Hollingsworth of the State Emergency Management Agency.

In nearby Fredericksburg, authorities evacuated about 15 people late Thursday and early Friday from homes on the town’s south side as the Blue River continued rising from storm runoff.

The river was rising about a foot an hour and was not expected to crest until late Friday afternoon. Deputies using boats worked Friday morning to rescue a woman stranded in her two-story home and two people trapped in a nearby home by the rising waters, said Larry Motsinger, a sheriff’s deputy.

WHAS11

“They could have gotten out. They just didn’t leave. Now they’re stuck there,” he said.

The rising waters forced the closure of Highway 150 Friday morning near Fredericksburg, swamping low-lying fields newly planted with corn and soybeans.

The flooding along the scenic Blue River ruined what would have been one of the biggest weekends of the year for Dickie Lambert, who owns the Old Mill Canoe Rental in Fredericksburg.

“It was going to be our big weekend. Now, it’s dead. There’s plenty of water, but I don’t think they want to paddle in cornfields,” Lambert said Friday morning.

Some areas remained unreachable. Authorities in Washington and Orange Counties declared emergencies and ordered civilians to stay off the roads.

About 4,300 power customers of Cinergy/PSI Energy remained without electricity Friday morning, most of them in the Corydon and Salem area, spokesman Rob Norris said. About 39,000 Cinergy customers across Indiana lost power at various times Thursday.

State emergency officials planned to fly over the area Friday to assess the damage, said Alden Taylor, a SEMA spokesman.

Indiana State Police said two suspected tornado touchdowns were reported in Washington County. The National Weather Service had not yet confirmed those touchdowns.

The Washington County Sheriff’s Department said one apparent tornado destroyed a home in the town of Organ Spring southwest of Salem. The second tornado struck about three miles north of Martinsburg, according to the department.

The storms dumped between 3 and 5 inches of rain across Orange, Washington and Clark counties, said James Brotherton, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Louisville.

The flooded Blue River near Salem surged out of its banks, lifting semitrailers from a parking lot and carrying them downriver until they lodged against the Indiana 135 bridge leading into Salem. Traffic was rerouted away from the bridge.

High water inundated highways throughout the region.

Highway crews were preparing to shut down Interstate 64 near Georgetown in far southeastern Indiana to clean up storm debris, including fallen power lines, said Trooper David Makowsky with State Police in Sellersburg.

Sections of Indiana 60 reopened Friday after high waters receded, but rising waters closed Indiana 150 near Fredericksburg and some areas of U.S. 31 near Henryville Friday morning, he said.

“Some of these waters have been going up and down so quickly it’s hard to keep track of them,” Makowsky said.

(Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)