In northwest Indiana, officials report a fatality occurred as powerful storms struck the Region Monday night. In Lake County, authorities say a 44-year-old Cedar Lake woman died in Monday night’s severe weather after a tree fell on her house. A news release says the Lake County Coroner’s Office was dispatched to the scene shortly before 10:30 pm.
Tornado warnings were issued across northwest Indiana Monday night. In a social media post, the National Weather Service Chicago said a line of storms “with multiple tornadic circulations” was moving across the Region around 10 pm CT. There are reports of tree damage across the area, including multiple trees down in Crown Point and Valparaiso. Motorists are likely to encounter dark or malfunctioning traffic signals and tree debris across the area and closures along some local residential roadways. In Valparaiso, Valpo Parks today said due to “extensive tree damage in the Kirchhoff and Banta areas” everyone is asked to avoid these locations for the time being.
NIPSCO says approximately 99,000 customers are without power this morning after last night’s strong storms. “Severe storms overnight brought extremely high winds, rain and tornadic activity across the region, causing elevated electric power outages in our service area. Damage includes downed wires and tree limbs and broken poles,” NIPSCO said at their website this morning. The utility company said the most impacted communities include Chesterton, Crown Point, East Chicago, Gary, Goshen, Griffith, Hammond, La Porte, Portage and Valparaiso. Here is link to the NIPSCO outage map for updates.
Update: NIPSCO says at peak more than 103,000 customers were without power, that number down to about 95,000 as of 9am as crews worked throughout the night to assess damage and make repairs. NIPSCO said due to the extent of the storm damage, it is expected to be a multi-day outage for some customers.
Closure: In Valparaiso, the Banta Center said this morning that due to the storms last night and the damage around the building, they will be closed today, Tuesday July 16, 2024.
A major cleanup effort is underway across the area after several tornadoes and severe storms moved through the Chicago area. The National Weather Service Chicago office reported several tornadoes touched down last night. Tornadoes were reported at both O’Hare and Midway airports. The National Weather Service is sending out survey teams to assess the damage. Here is a link to the National Weather Service Chicago website.
