Tornado hits LaPorte County, power still out in Michiana after storms

August 05, 2012|WSBT-TV Report

Parts of Michiana are recovering from the heavy storms that swept through the area Saturday night and early Sunday morning.

The National Weather Service says a preliminary damage survey of a home southeast of Rolling Prairie in eastern LaPorte County is consistent with the rotation of a tornado. Heavy winds destroyed a carport garage and the roof was separated slightly from the frame of the home. A nearby barn was also destroyed.

Indiana Michigan Power estimates over 12,000 customers had their electricity knocked out, and about 3,700 were still without power in our area mid-Sunday afternoon.

Of those waiting to have their power restored, about 1,200 were in St. Joseph County and 600 in LaPorte County of Northern Indiana. In southwest Michigan, nearly 1,400 outages were reported in Berrien County and over 400 in Cass County.

A line of severe weather made its mark on most of our viewing area Saturday evening as heavy rain, strong winds and frequent lightning pounded multiple counties.

In Berrien County, hail the size of ping pong balls was reported, along with a number of large trees down.

Trees were also down throughout Marshall County, including one across U.S. 31, south of U.S. 30. Downed power lines in Culver started a fire there.

Corn was flattened in the Osceola area, and winds were reported to be 60 to 70 miles per hour in St. Joseph County.

The severe weather also created problems at South Bend Regional Airport. As the storms rolled through just before 5 p.m. Saturday, the airport asked everyone inside the terminal to move to an interior restroom to seek shelter.

Even passengers who were on planes on the tarmac. Transportation Security Administration offiicals and airport employees also took shelter in the restrooms as well. The airport also experienced a power failure from a suspected lightning strike and went to backup generator power.

"The tornado sirens - you could hear them," said Daniel Walters, who was among those evacuated from the terminal. "Lights were just flashing everywhere."

Katie Foreman was also at the airport at the time and said, "I felt safe, because I was in the airport and went to the restrooms because security, TSA and everybody joined us, but we could hear it, so it was interesting."

Flight delays were caused by the storms, and the South Shore Line was delayed, but everything is back to normal today.

St. Joseph Regional Medical Center in Mishawaka tells us that hospital staff moved patients into interior rooms, away from windows, as severe weather alerts were issued in St. Joseph County.

Click here to see current outage numbers

I&M reminds us to never touch a downed power wire, no matter how harmless it looks. They say it can be difficult distinguishing between a power line and a cable or telephone line. All downed lines should be considered energized and dangerous.

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