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3 die as storm sweeps through Sullivan County

UPDATE: Indiana State Police confirmed Saturday morning just before 7:30 a.m. that the death toll has been updated to three people.

(CNN) — Three people have been killed as a destructive storm swept through Sullivan County, according to Sgt. Matt Ames with the Indiana State Police.

This brings the death toll from the storms raking through large portions of the central U.S. to at least five, including three people who were killed Friday in Arkansas.

Several residences and the local volunteer fire department building were also damaged, Ames said. Emergency crews continue to provide help in the area.

Jim Pirtle, the emergency management director for Sullivan County, Indiana, told CNN his wife became trapped inside his family’s home as a storm ripped through the county Friday night, destroying the house.

Their son was able to rescue her, he said.

“I called (my wife) 45 minutes before it hit. I told her, ‘Robin, you need to go somewhere.’ We don’t have a basement,” Pirtle said. “I was on the phone with her and she was crying, ‘Jim I love you’ and it started tearing the house apart.”

“We got hit bad,” Pirtle said speaking by phone from Florida.

The official was out of state when the severe weather hit Sullivan County. He said he has been working with emergency officials remotely.

The storm hit the southern side of the city and “destroyed a lot of homes,” Pirtle said.

“I’m not sure about fatalities, yet,” he added. “We still got people missing.”