Silver Lake Hit Hard By StormSILVER LAKE – Multiple trees and power lines fell on multiple houses in southern Kosciusko County during Friday afternoon’s storm.
One large tree, with some of its bark peeled off, seemed to have been snapped in half and fell on the two-story home at 10224 S. Roosevelt St., Silver Lake.
Wade Adams, who rents the house, said he was in downtown Silver Lake when the storm hit but his girlfriend’s brother and his girlfriend were in the house’s basement when the tree fell on it.
“They heard things hitting the windows and then the tree fell on it. They’re OK. They went home,” he said.
Adams said the upstairs bathroom and living room were totaled, and everything downstairs was damaged from the rain. His dad lives two houses down, so he said he thought he’d probably stay there.
Most of the storm damage was a stretch from Yellow Creek Lake to Silver Lake, said Kosciusko County Emergency Management Director Ed Rock. “Most of it is uprooted trees or downed trees, tree limbs, those type of things. There's some crop damage between Silver Lake and Yellow Creek Lake."
He said the county highway, sheriff’s department, Burket and Silver Lake fire departments were blocking roads until barricades could be placed.
"You cannot drive along the north side of Yellow Creek Lake; signs are up saying the road is closed,” he said Friday afternoon.
A spokesperson for the National Weather Service said the area was under a tornado warning Friday afternoon, but had not officially determined if the damage was caused by strong winds or a tornado.
Kosciusko County Central Dispatch did not have a road closure list as of late Friday.
Judy Hoge has lived at 3090 Myrtle Glen, Silver Lake, since 1973. She was in Warsaw when she got a call that a storm was hitting Silver Lake. When she arrived at her home, she found a power line down in her front yard and broken tree limbs on her house and in her yard.
“I’ll have to call my kids and have them help with the cleanup. Grandma can’t do it anymore,” she said. “I talked to NIPSCO at the first of the month to have these two trees down. Neighbors took the trees in the back down for me.”
In her 45 years living there, she said this was the worst storm damage she’s ever had. “Not a lot of damage to the house. I’m lucky,” she said.
James Crist, of 10488 S. Pleasant St., Silver Lake, had a big tree fall and take out most of his garage.
“I think it was just straight wind,” he said, but he wasn’t certain. A neighbor’s large tree was not only uprooted, but it and other damaged trees in the area were bent in almost different directions. “It might have been a twister as they fell in different directions,” he said.
A trailer for sale at 10489 S. Pleasant St. had a tree hit on its front side.
Claypool Police Department officer Rodney Bays said many power lines were down along Neer Road off Ind. 14, but the majority of the damage was in the neighborhood just north of Lakeview Cemetery.
A neighbor called Jason Branham to tell him about the storm and that one of the trees on his property had some large branches down. He doesn’t live there but is trying to sell the property.
“No structural damage. Not a lot (of damage), just a hassle,” he characterized it.
A news release from Kosciusko REMC Friday said high winds and fallen trees were the reason for power outages for over 3,000 Kosciusko REMC members scattered throughout the county. Several utility poles were broken during the storm, and there was considerable damage to distribution systems in the southern part of the county.
All KREMC crews were working to restore power as quickly and as safely as possible, the release said. KREMC anticipated it would be working through the night and urged members to prepare for prolonged outages.
NIPSCO reported on its website that Silver Lake had 574 customers without power as of 5:25 p.m.; Cromwell, 5; Mentone, 173; Syracuse, 536; and Warsaw, 260.
To check on NIPSCO outages, visit nipscooutages.com.
