About 12 Injured In Kokomo Tornado As Clean-Up Begins
KOKOMO (CBS) -- The Starbucks in Kokomo, Ind. is no more. A video shot by local witness Brandon Mobley shows it being destroyed by the elements.
"It got pretty close. Probably couple hundred yards from me and I started seeing debris flying over my head," Mobley tells CBS2 Chicago's Charle De Mar.
That's when Mobley, who was working on the roof of neighboring Chili's, ran inside the restaurant for shelter. But he never stopped recording.
"I look up and I got my camera going and I see the roof of Starbucks just peel off and then moments later the building collapsed in on itself. Immediately, my my heart went out to the people inside," Mobley said.
The coffee shop completely flattened. The National Weather Service says it looks like EF-3 damage. Mobley rushed in to help people trapped by the rubble.
"I was able to use a brick and smash holes through the drywall to communicate," he said.
"I looked out the door and I saw all this darkness in the west and I said uh oh," Betty Westerman, one of the people who were injured in the tornado, said.
The path of destruction carried on, yet only about a dozen people were injured county wide.
A state of emergency was declared for Kokomo and Howard County. Indiana Gov. Mike Pence left the campaign trail Wednesday to return back to the Hoosier State as the clean-up now begins.