Severe storm damages areas across St. Joseph County

SOUTH BEND, Ind.--It was an unexpected way for South Bend resident Connie Galbavy and her husband to spend their morning to say at the least.

“I didn’t even know the storm was going on until I opened the front door and trees were just swaying everywhere and open the front door because I heard the crack, I didn’t hear a thump, but then I open the door and it’s this here,” Connie Galbavy said.

A huge tree right outside their home, uprooted from the ground, damaging the sidewalk, and now laying across the lawn just feet away from her neighbor's home.

“I said to my husband, I was calling his name like crazy and I said we got a big problem! And he opened the door and he’s like oh my god,” Galbavy said. “I was just shocked to see the hole and stuff in the ground like that. I’ve never seen a tree come down except for when you drive by and it’s someone else. So now i’m the someone else.”

They aren’t the only ones dealing with the aftermath of Sunday night’s severe storms.

South Bend’s Director of Communications Caleb Bauer telling ABC57 news, 63 residents reported similar incidents including at least 30 partially or fully blocked streets.

“I woke up it was 2:02 in the morning, and I was going to let the dogs out and it was just pouring. My back and front here looked like a waterfall,” Galbavy said. “Very, very bad. The wind was...my trees were laying this way and then when I came out this morning all of them were just like this.”

Luckily for Connie and her husband though, while the tree did damage their sidewalk, it didn’t damage anything else.

“I said well what do we do now! And he said well look where it landed it didn’t land on the house, it didn’t land on your van which was right there and I said oh thank God. So, we are okay. That’s the excitement of the day!”

The VPA Forestry team and Department of Public Works have been working all day to clear the debris off the streets, and anticipate all roads will be open for the most part by this evening 

Limbs that have fallen in residents’ yard can be picked up by calling 311 for an extra yard waste pickup. Branches must be cut to four feet lengths or shorter and bundled securely with twine into manageable bundles.