Tornado Rips Through Bourbon, Argos
Published: Friday, April 11, 2025
Several tornadoes barreled across the countryside in the Michiana area, including four in Indiana and one in Michigan.
As Jon Rettinger drove through Marshall County last Thursday, following the path of the Bourbon tornado and surveying the damages, he couldn't help but recall two other tornadoes that made their mark on his life.
One of Jon Rettinger's earliest memories is surveying the damages after the Palm Sunday tornadoes in 1965. He was just five years old, but Rettinger distinctly remembers the uneasy feeling he got while observing the destruction.
"I just wanted to go back home," the Bourbon farmer said, recalling the day his family drove around, observing the results of the violent storms as he was doing on Thursday.
Wednesday's storm was not nearly as large as the Palm Sunday incident and damages, in comparison, were at a minimum.
"The tornado entered Bourbon and reached peak intensity on the northeast side of town in the area of Crocus Court and Rose Lane where several homes suffered extensive roof damage. Debris was thrown into the field," the National Weather Service Report states.
The twister reached peak winds of an estimated 105 mph and churned through 17.91 miles of ground after touching ground a mile southeast of Rutland. It was on the ground for 18 minutes before dissipating just 3 miles north of Etna Green in Kosciusko County. It was 175 yards wide.
It was one of eight storms that crossed northern Indiana, Southwest Michigan and northern Ohio.
The EF1 tornado that ripped through the heart of Marshall County last Wednesday evening toppling power lines and electric towers, gouging holes into houses and barns, and damaging ag equipment and facilities.
Rettinger's farm and two fields were in the path of damage, and he reported the loss of supports on a grain bin, a mangled irrigation system and large amounts of debris in a field to the east of Bourbon.
"I would say it's a total loss," he said, concerning his irrigation system, which lay twisted in the field near his home.
Rettinger and his wife, Janette, were returning home from church when the tornado blew through the area.
"I told my wife, 'you just watch for power lines and poles down in the road, and I'll try to keep us on the road,'" he said, remembering the driving rain, high winds and low visibility.
Judy Young, a neighbor up the road, was in her basement with her grandchildren when the storm passed.
"I could hear it throwing debris against the house," she said.
One end of her barn was damaged, and her grain bin was found in the field across the road.
Both Young and Rettinger said they were waiting for estimates from their insurance companies.
The suspense Rettinger felt while waiting reminded him of the much more vivid memory of the 2007 tornado that tore through rural Bourbon and into Nappanee.
"It's like Deja'vu," he said, explaining his uneasy feeling.
"(But), No. 1 ultimately in both events people were safe. No. 2, things can be replaced," he said.
The 2007 storm was an EF3 tornado, reaching peak winds of 165 mph. The twister went right over Rettinger's farm house, where his parents and brother were. Luckily, the structure of the house was strong, and his family was safe. But the farm sustained some serious damage.
"Seeing it (tornado damage) again today—you never know what kind of community you live in until you go through hardship and your neighbors want to be right there with you," Rettinger said as he drove between Bourbon and Argos, noting all the damages.
He stopped at Keystone Cooperative in Argos, spotting damage to three structures and tipping a storage bin.
Ryan Sieber, a seed specialist, was on-site.
"We got a call from the fire department last night and came out to contain a small spill (resulting from the storm)," he said.
Sieber said that after the storm, members from six Keystone Cooperative branches arrived to help with cleanup, and customers had phones ringing off the hook as they sought ways to help the Argos branch.
"We had 12 dumpsters filled by 1 p.m.," he said, describing the outpouring of the community. "People started showing up asking 'What do you need?'"
He said they sustained a lot of damage to equipment and even had to shut the rail down for safety reasons.
"We were just dealt a very big challenge for this season," Sieber said. "We're going to have to work harder to service our customers."
But, Sieber said he is thankful.
"I'm blessed. Nobody was hurt. We really lost no product; we just lost facilities," he said. "I have a house to go home to tonight. I'm blessed."
Other storms that tracked through the Michiana area include two EF1 tornadoes that hit Orland in Steuben County and Bethel in Branch County. The Orland tornado reached winds of 105 mph, was 600 yards wide and tore through 10.94 miles between 8:46 p.m. and 8:54 p.m. It touched down in Orland and dissipated southeast of Lake of the Woods in Branch County.
"The tornado destroyed an old, small barn on the south side, before uprooting and snapping several trees and a communications pole in east Orland," National Weather Service reported. "The tornado reached maximum intensity of 105 mph (EF-1) when it struck a farm on East Pearl Road, tearing roofs off large silos, destroying a section of barn, driving a two-by-four into the nearby home, and destroying another outbuilding to the west."
The Bethel tornado reached winds of an estimated 100 mph and was 125 yards wide. It traveled 3.91 miles between 8:49 p.m. and 8:52 p.m.
"Within the same parent cell as the Orland tornado, a NWS survey found a secondary tornado occurred in Branch County Michigan," NWS reported. "The tornado traveled northeast and then northerly, causing damage to multiple Amish properties; the wind speed could not be estimated due to repairs already completed."
In addition, two tornadoes were sited in Adams County. They were both rated as EF1s with the first reaching speeds of 105 mph and the second estimated at 95 mph. Both dissipated after just two minutes and were sited in Salem, Ind. The first was 75 yards wide and traveled 2.33 miles. The second was 100 yards wide and traveled 1.55 miles.
Damages in all five surveys included: rolled semis, tree damage, electric and communication pole damage, tossed silos, pole barn damages, stripped siding on houses and more.
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