Nappanee storm takes off roof of family's barn

SOUTH BEND, Ind. --- A storm left a barn in Nappanee near State Road 19 and County Road 46 without a roof on Friday.

Matt Hummel said the whole ordeal is the worst part of Mother Nature.

“The first thing that goes through my head when I see it is, you know, why would it happen,” Hummel said. “I mean it’s just incredible about what weather can like a big building that’s been held up like this.”

No one was injured and the family’s home was left with just a couple of dents. However, the barn that acts as a storage space on the first floor and a basketball court on the second floor is without a roof.

“It just shifted,” he said. “They’re lucky that it didn’t happen in this building or the chicken coop or even our house, I mean where would we go?”

Hummel said everyone was inside during the storm, except for himself and his mother. He said she stayed inside of a camper behind the home.

“The storm came through, I called her before it hit and was like ‘There’s a bad storm coming, there’s a tornado involved in it get inside immediately,” Hummel said.

He said she told him she could feel the camper rocking side to side during the storm.

“This could’ve flew and maybe ended in the highway, then she wouldn’t be here, but she’s lucky it didn’t take off,” he said.

Hummel said his family hopes to start cleaning up on Friday, but Hummel, who said he’s a storm spotter, wants to know what it is that caused serious damage.

“Why wasn’t there any warnings up in Elkhart County or even something, you know, ‘Hey, get the news out and everything, get a warning out or anything,” he asked.

According to the National Weather Service, it appears no damage was tornado related. However there were winds up to 70 miles per hour and a severe thunderstorm warning in Elkhart County. Also, there was a tornado warning near Bremen, a 15 minute drive from Hummel’s home.