Thousands left without power, widespread damage reported
Posted
David Slone-dslone@timesuniononline.com
People were praying for rain, and they got it Friday afternoon – along with a severe storm that caused power outages in Kosciusko County and surrounding areas. Severe storms rolled into the area around 2:15 p.m. Friday after warnings from the National Weather Service were issued for Kosciusko and other counties in Northern Indiana. According to various comments on the Times-Union Facebook page Friday around 7:35 p.m., local residents said they were still without power on Zimmer Road, west of Warsaw, Boggs Industrial Park area, Pike Lake area, Park Ridge off County Farm Road, Suburban Acres, parts of North Manchester, Mentone, Silver Lake and more. One reader at Hoffman Lake reported she never lost power, while another reported power restored at 5 p.m. Kosciusko County’s dispatch center was flooded with calls. According to Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department Public Information Officer Chad Hill, extra dispatchers were called in to field calls during Friday’s storm. A report of a utility pole across the road at CR 900S was called in. A couple of KCSD officers reported seeing swirling, rotating winds at ground level, and one officer took video with his in-car camera. First responders lost communication on their radios for a time Friday. One woman called dispatch and reported that a barn on her property at U.S. 30 and Ind. 13 was torn in half. Hill said that there also was several calls about power lines landing on top of vehicles but that no one was reported injured. There was another call of a boat capsizing on Hill Lake, though no one was injured. In the first hour of the storm, 441 calls were received by Kosciusko Central Dispatch. KCSD officers reported winds in excess of 60 miles per hour and temperatures that dropped nearly 30 degrees from just before the storm to when hit it. A NIPSCO spokesperson reported Friday that it had more than 23,000 customers in its service territory without power as of about 7:40 p.m. NIPSCO’s territory covers the northern third of the state, and just about every one of its counties was affected. NIPSCO, she said, is continuing to assess damage, with all of its linemen and crew called out on duty. “Our hardest hit areas were Crown Point, Michigan City, Warsaw and Knox,” she said. Because the damage was so severe, NIPSCO did not provide a time as to when all of the power would be restored. However, the spokeswoman suggested people continue to check the NIPSCO website, Twitter or Facebook for constant updates on the storm damage. NIPSCO’s website is www.nipsco.com, and it has a storm damage page with the updates available. A press release from Kosciusko REMC reported high winds caused downed lines and trees. There were five poles down on CR 900S, just east of Ind. 15. Areas most affected were Kralis substation, Claypool meter point, East 30 substation, Wooster, Mentone and Walnut Creek meter points. KREMC’s airport substation was without power momentarily, the press release stated, but was quickly restored. REMC line crews are out in force to correct outage issues. The press release advises the public to always stay away from downed lines, and to report any issues immediately to the cooperative at 574-267-6331 or 800-790-7362. A spokeswoman from Kosciusko REMC Friday at about 8:30 p.m. said about 4,000 people were still without power, mostly in the southern part of the county. Crews from other REMCs were called, including two from Carroll-White, to help with restoration. She said REMC is handling hazardous situations first, then areas with the most people affected. An estimated time of completion could not be provided, however, she said crews are working as quickly as they can. “We have all our crews working,” she said. “We’re doing the best we can.”
