[Southsider2k12]

Wasn't the Storm of '06 on the exact same date last year? Does anyone remember?

Anyways, schools are closed today for those who don't know.

Also when I left the house we had just hit 12 hours of not having any power. We had done some food shuffling to family who still had power, so hopefully we didn't lose any food this year.

Anyone else have any stories?

[JHeath]

I actually got stuck in the first wave of storms...travelling North on Roeske Ave on my way home (from Coolspring). I've never seen branches and trees flying and falling like that in my life, and was pretty nervous. Anyway, I did see a huge branch fall and block the road about a block ahead of me at one point. After driving past it this morning, and seeing it cut up and off to the side of the road, I noticed that a portion of said branch appeared to be at least 18" in diameter (and that wasn't even the widest part). Glad it didn't fall on anyone!

I know that Trail Creek, especially Coolspring Ave and the area near Black Oak Drive, were hit really hard.

I took some pictures, and will try to post them later.

[JHeath]

Taken in Trail Creek, on Edgemoor (approx. one block north of Coolspring).

The intersection of Coolspring and Edgemoor in Trail Creek.

Taken on Coolspring Ave...in front of Anita Bowser's former home. There were actually 2 trees uprooted and leaning on or near the home.

Not the best shots, as they were taken from on cell phone while on my way to work.

[Southsider2k12]

Nice pics. Really hits home the 80 mph winds they were talking about in the paper today. Heck I thought after last year if the trees didn't blow down then, they weren't going to blow down now!

I saw a pretty good amount of damage along the South Shore line on the way home last night. I didn't have my camera with me, but there were plenty of downed trees and yards re-arranged. It looked a lot like last year, just not quite as bad.

[Southsider2k12]

So we are still without power at the house. We did get the fridge and freezer food moved to places so that we wouldn't lose it all. We are hanging out at the inlaws to take care of the baby for now, but it looks like it is going to be another dark night.

[JHeath]

So we are still without power at the house. We did get the fridge and freezer food moved to places so that we wouldn't lose it all. We are hanging out at the inlaws to take care of the baby for now, but it looks like it is going to be another dark night.

How long before the power was restored this time? At least you were able to save the food...

[Southsider2k12]

68 hours. We just got power back at 12:30pm today.

[Ang]

I called my grandpa Saturday to see how he fared. He lives in TC on Raven Dr. They were without power until about noon Saturday. He ended up spending the night at my Aunt's house. She also lives in TC, but was one of the few whose power never went off. Gramps said he was thanking his lucky stars he bought the property "on the hill" back when TC was first being developed (I think his was one of the first 25 houses built in TC). He said there was much flooding around him, but his basement stayed nice and dry. None of the trees on his property blew down either. I swear that man has a legion of Angels surrounding him!!

[Southsider2k12]

http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?Sectio...amp;TM=51181.23

Region Recovering From Storms
Trail Creek among the hardest hit areas of La Porte County.

From Staff Reports

MICHIGAN CITY - Area residents spent Friday cleaning up after Thursday's set of storms knocked out power and uprooted trees.

Two major storms plowed through La Porte County Thursday - the first started at about 4:15 p.m. A second storm hit the area at 8 p.m.

NIPSCO spokesman Michael Suggs said 81,000 customers across La Porte, Porter and Lake counties were without power at the height of the storm Thursday. On Friday storms continued to cause power outages in the eastern part of NIPSCO's service area.

By Friday night power had been restored to 68,000 customers, leaving 16,083 still without power. Suggs said they anticipate power will be restored by Sunday at the latest.

"Our crews and contractors will continue to work throughout the night. We have over 300 crews and contractors working," Suggs said. "NIPSCO understands and appreciates our customers' frustrations with the storms and outages."

Michigan City Mayor Chuck Oberlie said the city had four crews - 34 people - out all night cleaning up after the storm.

"We came through the storm in good shape," Oberlie said. "We had crews from the Sanitation Department, Refuse Department and Street Department. We also called part of the second shift from the police department in early so we could make sure flares were out on streets where trees were down. In addition to our city crews, the Indiana State Prison had a crew out last night helping and they were back out again today."

Thursday's storm came a year to the day after a 106 mph storm hit Michigan City.

Oberlie said some of the hardest-hit areas in terms of downed trees were along Holliday Street, Pleasant and Woodland avenues, the Edgewood neighborhood and Oakwood Avenue and Garrettson Street.

"It's not as bad as last year, but there were a significant number of city trees knocked down," Oberlie said. "We had some big trees that were uprooted, but that was because the ground is so saturated from all the rain that the trees toppled in the wind. One of the big trees that fell because of this was on 10th Street between Ohio and Tennessee streets."

Trail Creek also saw significant storm damage.

"We were hit pretty hard," said Trail Creek Clerk-Treasurer Anne Dobbs. "Our street department was out all night."

Dobbs said the storm took a path along Coolspring Avenue, down Black Oak and Whippoorwill.

"There were a tremendous number of power outages," Dobbs said. "We have 930 homes in Trail Creek and I would guess that at least 800 of them were without power."

Dobbs said they haven't determined the number of trees that are down.

"We haven't been able to get a count because a lot of the trees have NIPSCO wires in them and we can't get to them to start removing them from the street," Dobbs said.

The Michigan City Area Schools canceled school Friday because of weather, according to the school district's Web site.

Michigan City In-Water Boat Show manager Norm Schultz said everything was going well at the show Friday afternoon.

"We're dry, we're okay," Schultz said. "Attendance has been moderate, primarily because of the weather."

Thursday evening's storm caused a 75-foot tent to rip at the seams and collapse on exhibits underneath.

Schultz said Friday morning they discovered a second tent had torn, but hadn't come down. Schultz said they had to remove all the exhibitors from that tent.

"The good news is there's no damage to the docks or boats," Schultz said. "Now it looks like the worst is over."

In the northern part of the county, near Heston, a rural La Porte man out to do a good deed came close to being seriously injured at about 5:30 p.m. Thursday.

Jim Lewis, of the 2000 block of East County Road 1000 North, was in his John Deere backhoe on his way to help someone whose pickup truck and horse trailer were damaged by a falling tree. The vehicle and tree were blocking northbound traffic in the northbound lane of County Road 200 East, according to a report from the La Porte County Sheriff's Department.

Lewis hoped to lift the tree off the vehicle.

But as he traveled south on 200 East to reach the motorist, a large tree limb, intermingled with utility wires, fell and one of the wires, still energized, snapped from a utility poll and snapped across the back window of the backhoe, shattering it and striking Lewis in the shoulder.

He told police he was not injured and the incident was reported to the Indiana and Michigan Electric Co.

City Editor Rick Richards and reporters Deb Sederberg and Amanda Haverstick contributed to this report.

[Southsider2k12]

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/arti...LOCAL/708270409

Water recedes; I-80/94 lanes reopen

HAMMOND, Ind. -- A three-mile stretch of Interstate 80/94 in northwestern Indiana has been reopened after being closed since Friday due to flooding, the Indiana Department of Transportation said.

The eastbound lanes between Cline Avenue and Indianapolis Boulevard in Hammond were reopened Sunday night, said Angie Fegaras, an Indiana Department of Transportation spokeswoman.

Storms Thursday and Friday knocked out power to more than 81,000 homes and businesses in a stretch concentrated from Hammond to Michigan City.

Only 260 Northern Indiana Public Service Company customers remained without electricity Sunday night, NIPSCO spokesman Michael Suggs said.

St. Margaret Mercy in Dyer opened a temporary emergency room in an undamaged wing of the hospital, but 66 patients evacuated from the hospital on Friday have not returned, spokeswoman Maria Ramos said.

She could not say when the hospital would return to admitting patients.

"The cleanup effort is furiously under way," she said.

Rain caused at least $1.3 million in damage to pumps and electrical equipment, Hammond City Engineer Stanley Dostatni said.

Water breached a levy on the Little Calumet River in Hammond, he said.

"We're going to have to get it buttoned up because we're concerned that there's rain predicted Wednesday," Dostatni said.

[Roger Kaputnik]

I was out getting groceries for my son's birthday dinner. I went to Jewel for steaks; Meijer for cake mix on sale, and water--but they did not have parmesan. I went to Al's, but they were closed without electricity. So I ended up back at Jewel. All the while, the second round of storms was blowing through town, trees bent over, firetrucks by Schoops, Franklin's right lanes were deep with water, spritzes of water blowing in through my ill-fitting door. Barker Ave closed with a tree across the street, looks like power lines down.

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Dinner was good. We allow the birthday person to select dinner, and my son picked filet mignon, fettucine alfredo, broccoli, and cornbread (?). The butcher at Jewel custom-cut half a dozen steaks--service is always good there. My wife made homemade pasta using the Ron Popeil pasta machine and alfredo sauce from scratch--the best ever!