[Southsider2k12]

http://www.wbbm780.com/pages/2724257.php?c...ntentId=2531154

Posted: Tuesday, 05 August 2008 7:17AM

Storms Cause Extensive Damage In NW Indiana


(STNG) - A chain of thunderstorms, high winds and funnel cloud sightings cut a wide swath of damage across Northwest Indiana on Monday night.

The storms entered Indiana shortly after 8 p.m. after wreaking havoc across Illinois. Around 33,000 NIPSCO customers in Indiana experienced power outages, mainly in north Lake County, Valparaiso and LaPorte.

Channel 16 News in South Bend reported 100-mph winds in Michigan City and reports of damage to Blue Chip Casino. Further details were not available at press time.

A trained weather spotter reported seeing a funnel cloud in Griffith, but a touchdown had not been confirmed by the National Weather Service. The Griffith Plaza, containing Food King Buffet, Dots clothing and Baum's Vitamins, had significant damage.

In addition to Griffith, the Calumet Township area also experienced significant damage with downed trees and power lines, gas leaks and damage to homes.

The storm ripped the roof off the home of Griffith resident Evelyn Mochon and uprooted most of the trees in the yard. Around 8:30 p.m., she and her husband heard the windows rattling and thunder. She tried to coax her dog downstairs, but it wouldn't come.

"My husband went downstairs, but before the dog and I could get downstairs part of the roof came off," Mochon said.

She and the dog made it to safety, but she's still searching for her cat in the 1700 block of North Lafayette Street. The family plans to stay with family members in Merrillville.

Cindy Ganz, a Lafayette Street resident and a 32-year resident of Griffith, was sitting at her front window when she felt a tree crash to the ground and windows in the back of her home blow out. No one was injured.

Power was knocked out at Crown Point City Hall and the police station. In Merrillville, shoppers at Westfield Southlake Mall were ushered onto the lower level. Highland residents reported transformers on fire in the 8900 block of Highland Avenue.

In Valparasio, streets were an obstacle course of downed limbs and the roof of a strip mall on East Lincolnway containing Jimmy John's sandwich shop was blown off and into the adjacent parking lot of King Gyros. Widespread power outages and flooding were also reported.

The Gary SouthShore RailCats delayed its game at 8:33 p.m. Rains flooded into the dugouts and pooled in the outfield. Ticketholders congregated in concourse area to watch the lighting, thunder and powerful winds. The game was called at 9:09 p.m.

The "bow echo" storm system moved east with a reported tornado sighting in Wheeler. A bow echo forms when bands of thunderstorms "bow out" and strong damaging winds reach the surface and spread out. Penny-sized hail, winds in excess of 80 mph and flooding were reported across Porter County.

In LaPorte County, there were reports of 100-mph winds in Michigan City and damage to Blue Chip Casino.

The National Weather Service did not confirm any tornado touchdowns, but said trained spotters had reported high-rotation winds in DeKalb and Kane counties in northeastern Illinois.

[Roger Kaputnik]

Who is the 23 y/o who was crushed? I heard (unconfirmed) that it is the son of a guy I have known since grade school. No name in the ND or on WIMS.

[Southsider2k12]

http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?Sectio...ArticleID=16480

Storms smack area
Resident dies when tree crushes car during severe weather Monday night.

Scott M. Lawson
News Editor

MICHIGAN CITY - One person was killed in what was apparently a weather-related incident late Monday evening.

Authorities reported a vehicle struck by a downed tree along County Road 400 West near Colonial Mobile Home Park.

La Porte County Deputy Coroner John Sullivan confirmed a fatal incident had been reported.

Sullivan said a tree crushed a Ford Escort at 9:20 p.m. at that location. A 23-year-old Michigan City resident was pronouced dead at the scene, dying of massive head trauma, Sullivan said.

Severe weather smacked La Porte County late Monday evening, resulting in downed powerlines and damaged homes.

See Tuesday's News-Dispatch for the complete story.

[Roger Kaputnik]

No name yet?

[Southsider2k12]

Not in the ND at least...

[Roger Kaputnik]

Someone reported to me that they heard a name on some LP station (country music), but I am unable to get more info or confirmation.

[Roger Kaputnik]

I just got confirmation. It was him. This is unimaginable. He had a little son, grew up in a close family. Rest in His peace.

Today, right now, contact your family and friends and let them know they are important to you and don't get 'too busy' for them.

This is a hard loss. Lord, have mercy on us.

[Ang]

Roger, you have my sympathy and I will pray for your friends.

[Southsider2k12]

Turns out this storm was actually a once in a lifetime deal

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/c...0,2543310.story

In a flash, heavens roared
Experts confirm that Monday night's storm packed an astonishing amount of lightning

By Robert Mitchum and Melissa Patterson | Chicago Tribune reporters
7:14 AM CDT, August 6, 2008

Clean-up after the storm

Enrique Cortez, of Chicago's Department of Streets and Sanitation Bureau of Forest, cuts a fallen tree off a car Tuesday morning in the 1000 block of North Winchester. (Tribune photo by Michael Tercha / August 5, 2008)

Over four hours, about a half-year's worth of lightning bolts bombarded the Chicago area, electrifying the night sky as trees were split, transformers were zapped and houses were set ablaze.

As work crews picked up Tuesday from the previous night's storms, meteorologists were assessing the staggering power of a historic thunderstorm.

Nearly 90,000 thunderbolts had hit northern Illinois, according to the National Lightning Detection Network. At the storms' peak, it was firing off more than 800 bolts per minute; and that only counts those that hit the ground.

"There was no precedent for this," said WGN meteorologist Tom Skilling. "In every way imaginable, that storm last night was in its own league."


The electrical storms raked the city and suburbs, bringing the Cubs game to a halt, sending residents into their basements and knocking out power to hundreds of thousands of customers. Remarkably, no injuries from the lightning were reported.

The awesome display originated in the unstable humidity that built up Monday afternoon, filling the area with potential energy, meteorologists said.

When unusually high clouds rolled into the region, an electrical tension began to build between positively charged ice crystals at their top and negatively charged water droplets at their bottom, creating a volatile mix.

As the warm, moist air floated up to those clouds, the powder keg was sparked, producing lightning strikes of amazing power and frequency.

Forecasters knew that the storms bearing down on northeast Illinois had the potential to be powerful and dangerous. One measure of severe weather—convective available potential energy, or CAPE—was showing readings six times higher than those of the usual conditions for strong thunderstorms.

But meteorologists said that predicting whether a storm will bring heavy lightning remains a challenge.

"Meteorologists' understanding of lightning is fairly weak," said Paul Sirvatka, professor of meteorology at the College of DuPage. "I don't know anybody who can sit there and say where there will be a lot of lightning."

Ron Holle, meteorologist at the National Lightning Detection Network, said his organization measures 90 to 95 percent of lightning strikes in the United States using 100 antennas. That allows forecasters to predict where lightning storms will move once they have started, but it's still difficult to predict their location or power before they begin.

"It's possible with weather prediction models and radar to stay on top of [a storm]," Holle said. "We can be pretty sure, but until it really develops we can't be sure if it's going to go this way or that way or when it's going to happen."

The danger Monday night did not dissuade storm chasers such as Walker Ashley, a professor of meteorology at Northern Illinois University, from rushing into the teeth of the squall to photograph the swelling clouds and lightning bursts. Ashley said the storm was moving too fast for him to snap more than a few pictures as it tore through DeKalb County, but said that the lightning had a different appearance than usual.

"I did note the lightning was very, very vivid and very, very dangerous," Ashley said.

Most lightning is negatively charged, but data indicated that during portions of the storms Monday there was more than 2 1/2 times the usual percentage of positively charged bolts, which are more powerful.

"Not only were the total numbers just off the charts, but there was a disproportionate number of strokes that were positive charged," Skilling said. "That was an especially dangerous lightning display."

Holle said the nearly 10,000 lightning strikes recorded in the 10 miles around Chicago's center represented one of the highest totals he'd ever seen for an area that size.

"That's a very large number," Holle said. "It comes out to probably half of the whole year's lightning in that area."

Fire officials blamed lightning strikes for house fires Monday night in Woodridge, Lisle, Aurora, Schaumburg, Frankfort, Barrington and Lemont.

Glenn Hubbard was assuring his wife that the storm roaring through their Carpentersville neighborhood would soon pass when lightning blasted three trees about 8:30 p.m. Monday and jumped to their ranch style home, starting a fire that rendered the home uninhabitable.

"It sounded like an explosion," Hubbard said. "Our son said he smelled smoke. I opened a bedroom door and flames just shot out from the ceiling. We just ran outside, barefoot. I'm still in shock."

While working a night shift at the Signature Lounge on the 96th floor of the John Hancock Center, manager James Kuehner said his co-workers and customers received a close-up view of the night's two lightning storms.

"You could tell when the building was getting hit, because everything was bright light and thunder at the same time," Kuehner said. "We knew it was more than just our basic summer thunderstorm. All of us have been through a ton of them, but last night's was nothing like we had ever experienced."

But despite the employees feeling nervous about the swaying building and the strikes of lightning, Kuehner said, the patrons of the lounge were unfazed.

"One guy was filming the bar glasses as they were moving back and forth with his videophone," Kuehner said. "They thought it was the greatest thing ever."

Tribune reporters Jeff Long, Joseph Sjostrom and Emma Graves Fitzsimmons and freelance reporter Carolyn Rusin contributed to this report.

rmitchum@tribune.com

[Southsider2k12]

http://www.post-trib.com/news/1092428,tornado.article

Tornado destroys homes

August 5, 2008
Recommend (8)

By GITTE LAASBY Post-Tribune staff writer

The storm that ravished Griffith and other parts of Northwest Indiana Monday night was a Category 2 tornado, the National Weather Service confirmed Tuesday afternoon.

Crews assessed the damage in Griffith Tuesday afternoon, finding roofs torn off two houses and a knocked-over semi trailer behind the mall north of the Ridge Road/Cline Avenue intersection.

Rubble is all that's left of some homes at 37th Avenue and Indiana Street in Griffith after a tornado ripped through the area Monday night.
(Scott M. Bort/Post-Tribune)

“The damage is a continual path from just west of the Ridge Road and Cline Avenue intersection,” said National Weather Service Meteorologist Tim Halbach, who inspected the area. “The tornado looked like it was two houses wide, 35-50 yards wide.”

A Category 2 tornado travels between 100 and 140 miles per hour. Halbach estimated the Griffith tornado moved at about 120 miles per hour.

NIPSCO has restored power to about 20,000 customers, but 44,000 remained without power by 3 p.m. Tuesday. The majority — 36,000 — were in Gary, Munster, Merrillville, Griffith, Hammond, Highland, Hobart, East Chicago and Dyer. In Valparaiso, 1,800 customers had no electricity.

A total of three tornadoes hit the area. In addition to the one in Griffith, tornadoes also hit Bolingbrook and Bloomingdale in Illinois, Halbach said.

The National Weather Service is still investigating a possible tornado in Benton County.

Contact Gitte Laasby at 648-2183 or glaasby@post-trib.com. Comment on this story at www.post-trib.com.

http://www.post-trib.com/1093121,stormmain.article

Path of destruction

August 6, 2008
Recommend (1)

By Gitte Laasby Post-Tribune staff writer

The tornado that slammed into Griffith Monday was an F2, the second most powerful category of twisters and the strongest in more than a decade.

The National Weather Service decided it was a tornado rather than straight-line winds after crews assessed extensive damage Tuesday in Griffith.

The tornado roared like a freight train, knocked over a parked semitrailer and tore off a roof as it forced its way through the Griffith Park Plaza, a retail area north of the Ridge Road/Cline Avenue intersection. It continued through a residential neighborhood, where it tore roofs off houses, flattened garages and scattered debris.

The tornado roared like a freight train, knocked over a parked semitrailer and tore off a roof as it forced its way through the Griffith Park Plaza, a retail area north of the Ridge Road/Cline Avenue intersection. It continued through a residential neighborhood, where it tore roofs off houses, flattened garages and scattered debris.

"The damage is a continual path from just west of the Ridge Road and Cline Avenue intersection," said National Weather Service meteorologist Tim Halbach, who inspected the area. "The tornado looked like it was two houses wide, 35-50 yards wide."

An F-2 tornado travels between 100 and 140 mph. Meteorologists estimate the Griffith tornado moved at 120 mph.

More than 400 workers worked around the clock Tuesday to restore power to about 63,000 NIPSCO customers in Lake and Porter counties, who lost power. By 3 p.m. Tuesday, the company had restored power to about 20,000 customers, but 44,000 still had no electricity.

The majority -- 36,000 -- were in Gary, Munster, Merrillville, Griffith, Hammond, Highland, Hobart, East Chicago and Dyer. In Valparaiso, 1,800 customers had no electricity.

It has not yet been determined whether a funnel cloud reported about 12:30 a.m. by a law enforcement officer 2.5 miles east of Valparaiso was a tornado.

"That's definitely possible considering the path the rotation took was directly east. At one point, we had the tornado going right across Valparaiso," he said.

The last time the region experienced an F-2 tornado was in 1977 and hit Hobart and South Haven.

The Indiana Department of Homeland Security dispatched personnel to Lake County on Tuesday to assess the damage, according to Jane Jankowski, spokeswoman for Gov. Mitch Daniels.

[Ang]

I used to live in Griffith and know people who live in that path. Wow! I'm going to have to make some phone calls now and check on people.

[Southsider2k12]

http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?Sectio...ArticleID=16519

Man killed instantly by tree
MICHIGAN CITY - The 23-year-old Michigan City man killed during Monday's storm has been identified as Timothy Decker, the father of a 21-month old boy.

According to a La Porte County Sheriff's Department report, Decker was killed at 9:20 p.m. when an oak tree branch splintered and struck his 2005 Ford Focus. He was killed instantly.

According to La Porte County Deputy Coroner John Sullivan, Decker was traveling north on County Road 400 West just south of County Road 625 North when he was hit by a branch that measured 18 inches across and 20 feet long.

He was a few hundred feet from his home.

"We will probably never know if it was a lightning hit to the tree or straight winds," Sullivan said about the limb that fell on Decker's car, crushing the roof.

"For that branch to hit there, it was totally a freak accident,' Deputy Coroner Mark Huffman said.

Decker's father, Mike Decker of Heston, said his son was returning home from Wal-Mart in LaPorte.

Initially, Huffman said, neighbors thought a passing motorist had broken down and was waiting for help. A passerby who noticed the heavy damage to the car stopped and made the discovery.

A quicker response would not have mattered, Huffman said.

"He died instantly,' Huffman said.

He operated a forklift and boom truck at Home Acres in South Bend.

"He liked the construction stuff,' his father said.

Surviving Decker are his girlfriend, Maria Yovino, whom he shared his home with, and their son Huston. He graduated in 2003 from New Prairie High School where he was an honor roll student and track athlete, a pole vaulter.