WINCHESTER, Ind. – As severe weather roared through central Indiana on Thursday night, reports emerged that a Taco Bell restaurant had been essentially wiped off the map.
Randolph County Sheriff Art Moystner told NewsNation affiliate WXIN on Thursday that the Taco Bell at 951 E. Greenville Pike in Winchester had been destroyed.
When news crews headed to the area Friday morning, the damage was apparent, but it was hard to tell precisely what happened to the restaurant in the dark. Daylight provided the proper prospective, as WXIN reporter Cameron Ridle and photographer Marcus Collins found out.
“It’s been right under our nose,” Ridle said during a live report. He’d been reporting from the area throughout the morning.
All that remained of the structure were remnants of the drive-thru sign. An overturned vehicle was also visible nearby. How did they know they’d finally found the right place?
The iconic Taco Bell sign, having been hollowed out, lay on the ground, its familiar shape providing one of the few indications that the restaurant once stood at the location.
Nothing of the Taco Bell building itself remained, with debris spread across the area.
“The Taco Bell has been flattened—it’s not even flattened, it’s just gone,” Ridle said.
A nearby Walmart was still standing while a Goodwill location in the area had visible damage.