Trees

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (AP) — Trees across Indiana are falling victim to last year's drought and disease, and some arborists say the effects could continue for up to five years. Many of the trees affected are evergreens such as spruces. Those trees require more water and are susceptible to a fungus that causes needlecast disease. Jim Luzar of the Purdue extension service tells the Tribune-Star that poorly drained soils, the trees' shallow root system and preference for cooler climates are compounding the situation.

Van Buren County police say evidence at the scene indicates more than one person snuck onto a farm in Bloomingdale Township and pulled 33 young Golden Delicious apple trees out of the ground. This happened sometime during the night from May 9 to May 10. The stolen trees had been recently planted in the field near 45 th Street and 15 th Avenue. They were 2 to 3 years old and won't bear fruit for 4 to 5 years. Two rows of 15 trees and another partial row were stolen, according to police.

There were multiple reports Tuesday night of trees and power lines down in South Bend and Mishawaka after a thunderstorm swept through the area. Lines were down at Campeau Street and Northwood Drive in South Bend, causing crews to close the roads.   Indiana Michigan Power was reporting just more than 225 customers without power in St. Joseph County earlier Tuesday, but is no longer reporting any outages. The weather service has canceled the severe thunderstorm watch it had issued for the entire WSBT viewing area.

Heavy storms that came through early Tuesday morning are creating a lot of problems for most of our area in both Indiana and Michigan counties. A line of heavy storms pushed southward just before 5:00 a.m. EDT, creating heavy winds, significant downpours and plenty of thunder and lightning. The winds created a dangerous situation for a Mishawaka driver after a tree fell down, along with power lines, on East Douglas Road near the railroad tracks. The incident caused police to close off Douglas from Fir to Capital.

COLUMBIA TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) - Authorities have released the name of a 44-year-old southwestern Michigan killed in a tree-cutting accident. Mlive.com reports (http://bit.ly/OPFyPc) Sunday night that Frank Andrew Schaefer of Van Buren County's Columbia Township had been cutting down several trees Saturday afternoon when a tree he'd just felled knocked a limb off another tree. The sheriff's department says the limb fell 25 to 30 feet and hit the man in the head. His wife called 911. He was airlifted to Bronson Methodist Hospital in nearby Kalamazoo, where he died.

We desperately need the rain, but heavy amounts of it have brought down some trees and created flash flooding concerns this morning. For many farmers the rain, while a welcome sight, may be too late with the drought already having done so much damage. Some of the reports of storm damage included trees being down in LaPorte County where the majority of the power outages are. But people also lost power in St. Joseph and Berrien Counties. An expert told WSBT Thursday the trees and limbs fell because of our warm weather in March, freezes in April and then the drought this summer.

As if Mother Nature wasn't cruel enough to area fruit farmers with warmer temps and then repeated hard freezes after trees budded this spring, someone(s) decided one area farm should have 33 less apple trees. Van Buren County police are reporting Sauer Farms, on 15 th Avenue in Bloomingdale, had 33 Golden Delicious apple saplings uprooted and stolen overnight May 9-10. The trees, roughly 3-feet tall with ¾-inch trunks, were recently planted in the farm's north field near 45th Street and 15 th Avenue.

Did you know if a tree falls on a house, at least in St. Joseph County it doesn't have to be cleaned up? It has been nearly a month since a big storm ripped through the area. Trees were uprooted, homes nearly destroyed and power was out for days. While most homeowners are in the process of fixing their damage, a home in Granger still looks like the storm hit yesterday. On July 11, one month ago, Gary Winenger stood in his garage and watched the massive storm plow through his neighborhood.

Storms have brought down a lot of trees this summer, which means there should be a lot of mulch made. But at least for now, that’s not the case in South Bend. A caller to the WSBT newsroom had a Good Question: “Why is the city not providing mulch as it has in the past, until March of 2011?” Time and again this summer, we’ve seen the scenes — clean up and lots of it, from severe storms that brought trees down. In the past, the city of South Bend has turned yard waste into mulch and residents can pick up that mulch for free.

If you own a home and live in Indiana, you now have new rights when it comes to protecting your trees from power companies. The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission recently issued an order saying utilities can't just enter onto private property and trim trees unless they have your permission. It means that while power companies need to be able to limit service interruptions, property owners have rights too. The trees that sit along Bryan Cline's property line in South Bend didn't grow lopsided.

ELKHART - Elkhart County police are investigating a car crash near the Elkhart Municipal Airport late Sunday morning. Around 10:30 a.m., a man was heading north on County Road 5, north of Bristol Street, when his car went left of the centerline and off the road. Police say the car took out a couple of mailboxes, hit the rear of two pickup trucks before slamming into a tree.  The driver was not hurt, but police say a 74-year-old woman in the car was shaken up, suffered some chest pains and was taken to the hospital.  There's no word what led to the crash.

An Elkhart family is already cleaning up after a storm rolled through this afternoon.   The Boyns were inside their East Lake Estates home when they heard a very loud crash.   They looked outside and saw a huge tree had been split open, apparently by a lightning strike.  At first they thought the tree went through their house, but they were glad to see it only damaged a corner of their garage.   No one was injured.   The lights flickered briefly but no one in the neighborhood lost power. 

MILFORD - One person is dead and another was badly hurt after a pickup truck crashed into a tree in northern Kosciusko County. Police and medics were called to State Road 15, just south of County Road 900 North, shortly before 11 p.m. Sunday. The area is just south of Milford and north of Warsaw. Officers arrived and found a 2003 Dodge Ram pickup into a tree, crushing the entire front portion of the truck. Police say the driver, Jason Watson, 37, of Warsaw died on the scene.

MILL CREEK, Ind. - A one-car crash in LaPorte County has claimed the life of a 21-year-old man, and police say alcohol was involved. Police say it happened shortly after 3:30 (CST) Sunday morning on North C.R. 875 East in the Mill Creek area of Wills Township. CLICK HERE for map. County police say Kyle Flotow from New Carlisle, a passenger in the car, died on the scene. Kyle's 22-year-old brother, Ryan Flotow, was driving the car when the vehicle went off the road and hit a tree.

ELKHART - Two Elkhart County teenagers were hurt after a car they were in slammed into a tree. County police say 16-year-old Martin Olais of Elkhart was driving north on Keltner Road, north of Penwell Ave., just east of the Elkhart city limits when his Honda Civic went off the west side of the road for an unknown reason and hit a tree. It happened around 5:10 p.m. on Saturday. Olais was taken to Elkhart General Hospital after suffering a broken femur. Police say 16-year-old Marco Fernandez of Goshen was a passenger in the car and was helicoptered by MedFlight to South Bend's Memorial Hospital with abdomen and arm injuries.

Services are scheduled Thursday for a 36-year-old woman killed when a tree fell on the car she was traveling in outside LaPorte. Sarah Swisher, of Kingsford Heights, died Saturday morning several hours after the freak accident. According to LaPorte County police, she suffered a severe head injury. Swisher was in the back seat of a 2005 Nissan Sentra that was northbound on Indiana 39 south of the LaPorte Municipal Airport just after 6 p.m. Friday, police said. The driver, 37-year-old Charity Mitchell, told investigators she did not remember the accident but when she came to she was pinned in the vehicle.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) - A 22-year-old Grand Rapids woman has died after being thrown from a minivan that struck a tree. Grand Rapids police say Michelle Caverley died at a local hospital from injuries suffered in Saturday morning's crash. Caverley was a passenger in the minivan. After running into the tree about 4:05 a.m., the minivan's driver drove off. Caverley was left behind. Police were able to locate and arrest the driver. Earlier reports had said the victim was hit by a vehicle.

The storm created a dangerous situation for a Niles family Friday morning. Our reporter at the scene says a woman on the first floor of a home in the 500 block of Cass Street became pinned under a tree that fell on the house and her family couldn't pull her out. "I tumbled out of my room and landed in a pile of debris between the tree and the driveway," said Shawnette Baker, who lives in the home with four other family members....

KOSCIUSKO COUNTY - Two people were airlifted to a Fort Wayne hospital after crashing into a tree during an early morning police chase Saturday in Kosciusko County. It started with a domestic battery call on East County Road 1300 North near Warner Road shortly after 2 a.m. when an officer saw a vehicle take off from the scene. Police say the driver, 19-year-old Andrew Gabbard, refused to stop, ran a stop sign and hit two trees. The car rolled over, trapping both people inside.

SOUTH BEND - South Bend police are investigating the possibility that alcohol may have been involved in an early morning crash. Police say around 3 a.m., 19-year-old Matthew McCollum of South Bend lost control of his car and hit a tree. McCollum was heading north on Sunnyside crossing Bronson when it happened. McCollum and a passenger, 37-year-old David Jastrzembski of South Bend, were both trapped inside. Police say McCollum suffered leg and foot injuries, and Jastrzembski appears to have broken his leg and dislocated his knee.