After a major storm rolled through western Daviess County Sunday, significant damage was sustained from straight line winds throughout the area, including Diamond Lake Resort.
The storm rolled through around 3:30 p.m., lasting 10 or 15 minutes. According to a social media post, Diamond Lake was full of Memorial Day weekend campers and the park had just finished their bingo activity for guests.
“The wind and rain started coming so hard you couldn’t see, and within a matter of minutes, trees were everywhere,” the post read. “It looked like a war zone.”
After the storm subsided, Diamond Lake staff, looked for people with injuries. While all campers were safe, major damage was done to campers and the park itself.
“Within a matter of minutes, we had campers and local people from our West Louisville/Daviess County community standing in front of us wondering how they could help us,” the post read. “It was an amazing sight to see how this community can truly pull together in a time of need to support a small business.”
According to Daviess County Fire Chief Dwane Smeathers, several trees were down at Diamond Lake, damaging some campers and cottages on site. One tree that was uprooted caused damage to the campground’s water line. Smeathers said the St. Joseph Volunteer Fire Department responded to the scene, where community members helped clear the roadways at the campground and get debris off of campers.
“It’s going to be a long process to get everything back to the way it was,” he said. “But the community is going to survive. Just going to take some time to clean up.”
Diamond Lake’s social media post said the park is still a mess, but all the major tree damage was taken care of Sunday by volunteers. Owners Brian and Janice Smith said they are humbled and forever grateful for the ones who jumped into action to help.
“Clean up will continue for a while, so we do appreciate your patience as we once again ‘polish our Diamond,’” they said.
