Storm damages several Elkhart homes

ELKHART, Ind. -  Wednesday night storms wrecked homes, garages and power lines all over Elkhart County.

One garage on Mason St. was destroyed by a giant tree. Also under the tree was the homeowner's car. 

Just down the road, Eric Rodgers roof was damaged.

 “I was starting to fall asleep and then all of a sudden I just heard stuff hitting like hard on the side of my house. I opened the door and seen all the trees like bent over and the rain was going completely sideways," Rodgers said.

He didn’t know what was happening.

“I thought it was a tornado that was hitting," he said.

This morning, he went outside to check the damage.

“It tore off the side of my roof over here, tore off the side of my roof over here. Tore off some of my upper roof," he said.

Most of the people I spoke to today were just as surprised.

“I heard it but it didn’t, I didn’t think it was that bad," Willie Hines, an Elkhart resident said. 

Hines heard the storm but didn’t think much of it, until he woke up this morning and saw his neighbors tree. It was uprooted and into his neighbors home.

“But looking at that tree, when I got up this morning, I finally came out to just see what was going on. It kind of shocked me," He said.

Down the road, Mary Gonzalez's home was hit by a tree.

“It started raining so as it’s raining I see the lights on the street go out and then we hear a really loud thump,” Gonzalez said.

She went outside to find a downed tree.

“The tree was actually pulled out from the ground and it was knocked down - fell on the fence," she said.

It was only feet from her car.

“It missed the cars by a little bit," she said. “Ha thankfully."

Even though her car was not damaged, there is still a ton of debris needing to be cleaned up. However, power lines are a hidden danger.

 “The cops came by and they said not to touch anything cause the cables were touching the tree - so we haven’t been able to move anything," Gonzalez said.

Although she didn’t have lights out, other residents just blocks' down did. Travis Snider with the Elkhart City Police Department said an estimated 48 trees were down because of the storm. There are at least 800 outages still in Elkhart.  If you do have a tree down and especially if it is near a powerline, he said to call dispatch at 574-295-7070.

 Visit I&M’s outage map for up-to-date restoration times and cause information.