Thousands without power after storm hits northern Indiana
Pastor Dale Morgan
Thousands without power after storm hits northern Indiana*
Updated 8/25/2006 1:49 PM ET
MICHIGAN CITY, Ind. (AP) — A severe thunderstorm swept in from Lake
Michigan with high winds and large hail, moving docks, scattering lumber
across railroad tracks and leaving thousands of homes and businesses
without power.
Some injuries were reported in the county, but LaPorte County 911
Assistant Director Beth West said she did not have details.
Coast Guard instruments measured winds of up to 92 mph late Wednesday.
Docks were moved at a Lake Michigan marina where a boat show was
scheduled to begin Thursday, but most of the yachts and boats were
safely harbored nearby, The News Dispatch reported.
"It was intense. I've never seen anything like it," said Roscoe Serrells
of Charlevoix, Mich., who rode out the storm on a boat.
In Westville, wind scattered a lumber company's entire stack of wood
across railroad tracks, West said.
About 22,000 customers lost power, mostly from Gary to about 30 miles
east in LaPorte, a utility official said. Trees were down, and crews
were faced with repairing many broken utility poles.
Funnel clouds were reported midway between South Bend and Gary, but the
National Weather Service was not able to immediately confirm that the
storms touched down.
Meanwhile, thunderstorms rumbled across Wisconsin on Wednesday night and
early Thursday, lifting and flipping fuel pumps at a service station in
Tomah as they moved through.
"It went from broad daylight to black in 15 minutes," said Jenny Greeno,
a clerk at the Shell Travelmart station on that city's north side, of
the incident Wednesday about 8 p.m. "I saw the tarp flying, the pump
blew over, and I hid in the office."
But there were "no flames, nothing dramatic, just fumes," added Janna
Flagstad, co-owner of the station.
A barn was blown down at near Kirby, also in Monroe County, the National
Weather Service said, adding that winds were clocked at an estimated 75
mph at Kirby and 70 mph at Warrens.
Hail of 2 to 2½ inches in diameter was reported at Kirby and nearby
Tunnel City while golfball-sized hail fell in Merrillan and near Black
River Falls in Jackson County and Hillsboro in Vernon County, the
weather service said.
Thunderstorms moved through south central and southeastern Wisconsin
early Thursday, with three-quarter inch hail coming down west of Madison.
There was a preliminary report of a brief tornado touchdown at Leland in
Sauk County, but no damage was associated with it, said weather service
spokesman Greg Davis.
Contributing: Wire reports