Strong winds and heavy rains moved through the area Wednesday evening, leaving behind downed trees and power lines, flooded roadways and several weather-related fires.

The city of Warsaw was the hardest hit by the storm in Kosciusko County, with some wind damage and flooded roads reported in the northern part of the county. Most of the fires occurred south of Warsaw.

Jeff Buell of Kosciusko REMC said widespread outages were reported all over the county, with most customer services back on by 2 or 3 a.m. today. Buell said that wind, rain and lightning all caused problems for the electric service and that there was damage to poles, as well power lines, as a result of the storm.

Some residents of Syracuse were still without power this morning.

Portions of the county received up to 7.5 inches of rain over the past two days.

Trees or tree limbs littered several city streets and yards when the hour-long barrage ended and many motorists were stranded in water-filled roads, including Fort Wayne Street at Zimmer Inc., Market Street at Warsaw Bowl and Columbia Street, near Owen's Supermarket and under the viaduct. Street department crews worked on cleanup late into the morning today.

One Warsaw police officer on duty during the storm said over a police-band radio that the city was flooding in places he didn't know it could flood.

At least three fires were caused by lightning strikes in the Burket area, where an estimated $50,000 damage was caused to the Guy Miller residence at 8492 W. CR 900S.

Burket Fire Department Chief Kevin McSherry said the three fire calls to his department all came within one-half hour of one another and all were storm-related.

The Miller house fire call came while firefighters were headed to a transformer fire at Tinkey Road and Ind. 25. Mentone Fire Department handled the transformer call, while Burket firefighters went to the house fire. A short time later, there was a report of a house struck by lightning on West CR 525S. Claypool Fire Department was dispatched to that call because Burket firefighters were tied up on CR 900S. However, the second house fire reportedly had minimal damage.

At the Miller residence, McSherry said efforts to extinguish the blaze were hampered by the fact that the house had a metal roof, which was slick in the continuing rain and was a cause for concern with lightning still flashing around the crews.

The family was at home when the lightning struck the home, where items were knocked off the wall and electric sockets were blown out of the wall.

McSherry said it was hard to get to all of the fire, too, because it got into the attic and fell down into the walls. Firefighters were called back to the residence about 3 a.m. today when smoldering debris apparently rekindled.

Another fire, also believed started by a lightning strike, was found about 1:21 a.m. today by a Kosciusko County Sheriff's Department deputy on routine patrol.

The fire destroyed a barn near the intersection of CR 450S and County Farm Road.

Winona Lake Fire Department provided equipment and manpower assistance in helping Claypool Fire Department fight the fire. Warsaw Fire Department's tanker also was brought to the scene.

No other information about the blaze was available at press time today. [[In-content Ad]]