Published: July 22, 2008 12:50 pm         

Widespread damage

Winds reach 66 mph during Monday morning storm

A thunderstorm that blew through Cass and surrounding counties Monday morning brought with it more than heavy rain.

Winds reached 66 mph, according to Cass County EMA Director Alvin Beckman. The storm contained sheets of rain and cloud-to-ground lightning and left uprooted trees, downed power lines and blocked roadways in its wake.

“It came through with a vengeance, that’s for sure,” said Beckman, who tracked the storm as it passed through.

U.S. 35 between 200N and just south of Royal Center had to be closed for about 45 minutes while workers cleared trees from the roadway. Trees also fell on houses and vehicles. On the way to the ground, many limbs snapped lines and utility poles.

“A lot of trees went down that took power lines, phone lines down and cable lines with them,” Beckman said.

LMU dispatcher Julie Truax said at one time about 800 homes were without power throughout Cass County on Monday. As of 4 p.m., workers were still restoring service to some.

For many property owners, cleanup began soon after the storm passed.

Mike Russow said he had plenty of work to do prior to the storm. Now, he has hours of cutting and clearing fallen trees. A large limb from a walnut tree narrowly missed a minivan parked in his driveway.

“Got lucky there,” Russow said.

Laying on the ground some 40 feet below where it had grown for many years, the leaves touched the vehicle, but only the windshield wiper was damaged as far as Russow could tell.

“That could have been real ugly,” said Mike Hurts, a neighbor helping Russow clear his driveway.

Russow was home preparing to paint gutters at the time the storm blew in. He heard a lot of cracking in forest bordering his driveway in the 4900 block of Division Road. He got his kids into a safe place and waited for the danger to pass.

Winds toppled a tree in the front yard and one in the back, but neither one struck the house.

One High Street resident was not so lucky. A portion of a tulip tree feel into the back of a house owned by Jeff Lee. He said the large limb broke out seven windows, tore out an window AC unit, smashed a grill and poked a hole in the roof.

Lee, who was not home at the time, said he had not planned on spending the day cutting a tree into pieces, but was forced to by the storm.

“Free firewood,” he said trying to make light of the situation.

Shane Walker and a crew of workers from the parks department got to work clearing several trees that fell in the open grass area at Spencer Park.

“We got lucky,” Walker said. “No shelters or anything got damaged.”

A crew was also sent to work at Riverside Park. Mowing for the week was put on hold, Walker said.

Beckman received a report of rotation in the dark clouds accompanying the storm in northern Cass County but could not confirm the report. The damage suffered by many in the area came from straight-line winds that averaged 40 mph, Beckman said.

The storm lasted less than 20 minutes and made Logansport at about 10:25 a.m. The amount of rain registered at the EMA office on Ind. 17 was a quarter of an inch.

Kevin Lilly can be reached at (574) 732-5117, or via e-mail at kevin.lilly@pharostribune.com



To report damage

• Property owners who sustained damage to a structure and/or vehicle are asked to contact the EMA office to report the damage. The number is (574) 722-2484.