Clean-up begins after powerful storms inflict widespread damage
FORT WAYNE, Ind. (Fort Wayne’s NBC) - Storms packing hurricane-force winds pummeled northeastern Indiana, knocking out power to tens of thousands of customers and causing substantial damage.
The worst of the damage happened late Wednesday, when the nighttime flare-up included winds that registered close to 100 miles per hour.
Semis were blown off the road. Westbound US 30 was closed for several hours as one incident was cleared. Downed power lines and trees prevented access to neighborhoods and hampered efforts by utility workers to restore service.
About 41,000 Indiana Michigan Power customers were in the dark overnight; tens of thousands more who receive service from other providers met the same fate.
As those crews worked to restore the flow of electricity, city, county and state workers erected barricades along roads that were not safe for travel, and homeowners put the arrival of daylight to use in assessing damage to their property.
Tuesday and Wednesday are “First Alert Weather Days,” with dangerously high temperatures in the forecast. But the threat of severe weather, for now, has passed.
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