Northwest Indiana was hit with two tornadoes and a derecho storm Monday, according to the National Weather Service.
A tornado was reported from Cedar Lake through Crown Point traveling 4.7 miles with a peak of 90 mile per hour winds. Its max width was 300 yards, and it was recorded from 9:56 p.m. to 10:01 p.m., according to NWS.
A tornado was also reported from Shelby to Wheatfield Township traveling 13.7 miles with a peak of 75 mile per hour winds. Its max width was 100 yards, and it was recorded from 10:02 p.m. to 10:14 p.m., according to NWS.
Monday’s storm was classified as a derecho, said NWS meteorologist Scott Baker. A derecho begins as a severe thunderstorm and grows in size, he said.
To be classified as a derecho, Baker said the storm has to track 250 miles and reach wind speeds of 75 miles per hour. Monday’s storm started in Eastern Iowa and then tracked through northern Illinois, Northwest Indiana and southern Michigan, and its wind speeds reached 75 miles per hour.
Derechos occur when there is temperature instability and a shift in the weather pattern, Baker said. They happen every 3 to 5 years, he said, and typically occur between May and August, even into September if the weather stays warm.
“We’re noticing that it’s a thing that happens every handful of years,” Baker said. “The only thing we can do is prepare for them.”
At the height of the storm, NIPSCO reported about 103,000 people were without power, though that was down to 68,500 by early Tuesday afternoon, mostly in the northwest portion of the utility’s service area.
As of noon Thursday, NIPSO reported that 95% of the 110,000 homes and businesses affected by the storm have been restored. Crews were still out Thursday restoring connection for the remaining 5,500 customers who still don’t have power from Monday’s storm.
The company said the majority of customers still without power should be restored by Thursday night. But areas like East Chicago, Griffith, Hammond, Lake Station, Lowell and Munster would be restored Friday or Saturday, according to the utility company.
In Cedar Lake, Laura Nagel, 44, died after a tree fell onto her house, officials said. Baker said investigators determined that the tree fell onto her house as a result of damaging wind, not the tornado.
“There was no other evidence in that vicinity to classify it as a tornado,” Baker said.
Cedar Lake police and fire crews responded to a call at the home in the 8900 hundred block of West 141st Lane at 10 p.m. Monday. The caller stated a tree had fallen on the house and an occupant of the home had been injured, according to a police news release.
Officers found Nagle inside a bedroom with fatal injuries. Nagle was pronounced deceased at 10:18 p.m. and her manner of death was ruled an accident, according to the Lake County Coroner’s Office.
Yellow police tape circled the home, which is gray with a dark blue door, Tuesday morning. A large tree lay across the roof, and its branches rested on the Dodge Nitro parked outside the house.
Parts of the roof and a windowpane, as well as several branches from surrounding trees, were scattered outside the home. A fireman arrived at the scene at around 10:45 a.m. and took a few pictures of the home before driving away.
Josh Myers, 30, who lives across the street from the home, said he was outside watching the storm and he saw the tree fall on the house. At the moment, Myers said he ran inside his house to take cover but he felt he should go help his neighbors.
“I thought it just fell on their car. Then all the police came and I didn’t want to be in their way,” Myers said.
Myers said he didn’t know Nagel, but he would often see her, a man and young children around the house. Myers said he’d see them working around the house outside, the kids playing and their dog outside.
“They seemed like nice people. It’s really unfortunate,” Myers said.
akukulka@post-trib.com
