Wind causing safety concerns in Elkhart County

The weather is causing umbrellas to flip, garbage cans to roll, and branches to break and some damage was a little more severe.

At Central Rent-A-Crane off Pine Creek Road near County Road 15, wind gusting in excess of 50 miles per hour caused a part of their roof to fly off. A large piece fell to the ground and the other half was left barely holding on to the building. 

Employees say no one was hurt but they are blocking their front entrance with cranes just to keep people back.

Speaking with the company off-camera, they say they are talking with the insurance company to get it fixed.

The strong wind can create hazardous working conditions.

“It can make it challenging sometimes especially if you are in the bucket. If you are cutting down a tree or branches you don't really know where they are going because the wind can take them,” says Sam Rodino, with the Forestry Division of Elkhart County.

Rodino adds that windy days make his job more dangerous.

“Power lines we will get called out on those. Of course it is dangerous all the lines are always charged and there is always electric coming through them so it will always make it dangerous when you gotta work with that,” says Rodino.  

The high guts of wind took down many trees and power lines. According to Indiana Michigan power there were close to 15,000 power outages in Indiana and Michigan in their service territory .