Storms struck Kosciusko County Sunday evening, littering the area with downed trees and power lines.

Power outages affected thousands of electricity customers, leaving some people without power into this morning.

The rain and winds caused hundreds of trees to fall, damaging houses, vehicles and power lines. The southern part of Kosciusko County was said to be hardest hit by the storm, but damage is widespread. No one was reported seriously injured as a direct result of the storm.

Although the Kosciusko County Sheriff's Department was without electricity for several hours, the phone lines were operational. The dispatch center received dozens of weather-related calls.

Sheriff Al Rovenstine said the power was out in the building and jail for almost six hours. The backup generator also went out and it took maintenance several hours to get it fixed.

"Fortunately, there were no big emergencies," Rovenstine said.

The sheriff's department put its contingency plan into motion, Rovenstine said, which included routing dispatch calls to other police stations and fire departments.

The phone system, including the 911 system, was fully operational, but dispatchers were unable to use their computers to track where the calls were coming from. Communication with road officers was done via telephone, Rovenstine said, since the radios did not work.

Rovenstine said one problem was that the air conditioning in the county jail went out with the electricity. One female inmate fell off her bunk bed and was treated at Kosciusko Community Hospital for minor injuries.

A member of the emergency room at KCH said the hospital did not notice any addition to their usual emergency-room use due to the storm.

An official from REMC estimated that power outages were worst in the southern part of the county.

"All major circuits are back on," said Lynn Collyer, CEO of REMC. Collyer said that some individual customers may be without power if the storm struck their home's transformer or a tree caused damage to the home.

Power came back to a large portion of REMC's customers by 10 p.m. Sunday, Collyer said. Other circuits came on at 2 and 7 a.m.

If customers still do not have power, they should call their electric supplier. Calling 911 or the police department will not help power companies know where the outages are. Police dispatchers request that people do not call the police stations to complain about the power.

The city of Warsaw was hit by the storms around 5 p.m. Reports from the street department say that more than 100 trees are down throughout Warsaw, and initial clean-up may take almost two weeks.

Kim Leake, Warsaw public works superintendent, said that trees damaged houses and vehicles and knocked over power lines.

"The roads are cleared," Leake said this morning. "Most of the damage is heaviest from Winona Avenue to Sheridan Street."

Leake said the damage extends from the east to west ends of Warsaw, "like a path went down Center Street." There are also isolated areas of damage.

The street department began this morning to clean up both sides of Center Street, Leake said, and will continue street-by-street until clean-up is completed.

The first sweep through Warsaw may take 1-1/2 weeks, Leake estimated. The entire clean-up may last three to four weeks.

Leake said that the crews do not go on private ground, but homeowners can call the street department if the damage is a matter of "life or limb."

Leake also said homeowners should take photos of the damage to their property and contact their insurance carriers to report the damage.

"We're cleaning up the best that we can," Leake said. The streets are open and safe and any dangerous situations were taken care of, he said.

Matt Winger of the Kosciusko County Highway Department said the southern two-thirds of the county received significant damage. All roads are open now, he said, but clean-up may take as long as two days. The county department takes care of the problems only on the right-of-way for the county roads. [[In-content Ad]]