Tornado warning issued for northwestern Perry County as severe storms move through

A tornado warning put Saint Croix, Adyeville, Sassafras, Celina, Apalona, Siberia, Uniontown, West Fork, Doolittle Mills and Kitterman Corners under immediate alert Sunday night as severe weather moved through northwestern Perry County. The warning stayed in effect until 10:15 p.m. local time after radar showed a severe thunderstorm capable of producing a tornado.

The warning also covered nearby parts of southeastern Dubois County and west central Crawford County, making it a regional public safety event rather than an isolated county-only alert. The National Weather Service said the storm posed a direct hazard because flying debris could be dangerous and mobile homes could be damaged or destroyed. Residents were told to move to a basement or an interior room on the lowest floor of a sturdy building and stay away from windows until the warning passed.

For Perry County, the threat mattered because so many of the named places are small, rural communities where people may be spread out along roads and in homes that can be vulnerable when storms turn severe quickly. A warning like this can interrupt evening travel, force families to decide in minutes where to shelter, and keep emergency crews ready for reports of downed trees, power outages or storm damage. The alert’s specificity, naming Saint Croix, Adyeville, Sassafras, Celina, Apalona, Siberia, Uniontown, West Fork, Doolittle Mills and Kitterman Corners, gave residents a clear picture of who needed to act.

The June 21 storm period was part of a broader severe-weather outbreak across Indiana. National Weather Service Indianapolis posted a briefing on tornadoes in Indiana that day, and a separate tornado warning text from the same evening repeated the same shelter guidance and described the storm as capable of producing a tornado. By the next day, media reports said National Weather Service survey teams were out assessing damage after the storms, underscoring how quickly the evening’s warning turned into a wider post-storm review across southern Indiana. Reports from the broader outbreak described tornadoes and flash floods battering the region, a reminder that the most urgent moments often come with little warning and demand immediate action from people in the path.