Posted on 06/07/2008 4:21:20 PM PDT by Strategerist
I’m not that far south — I’m in the NE corner of Jackson County, about 30 miles due west of Ann Arbor. If we’re lucky this latest storm system will go north again. Thanks for the well wishes. :)
I saw the damage through Clinton County today. Amazed that there were no injuries.
Confirmed tornado in North Chicago suburbs now, Mundelein.
You can see the hook on radar.
Probably a good time for me to log off and unplug the ol' pc!
yahoo has it
Large tornado tears through Chicago’s southern suburbs
AP has
Severe storms bring floods, tornadoes to Midwest
TOM MURPHY, Associated Press
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080608/ap_on_re_us/severe_weather
FRANKLIN, Ind. - Severe storms flooded central Indiana with as much as 10 inches of rain Saturday and spawned tornadoes that ripped up roofs and flipped tractor-trailers in Wisconsin and the Chicago suburbs.
The floods in Indiana threatened dams, inundated highways and forced the Coast Guard to rescue residents from swamped homes. To the northwest, Chicago-area residents ran for cover as tornadoes touched down throughout the region.
Wisconsin had a few minor tornado injuries, and at least one injury was reported near Chicago. Indiana had been spared any reported deaths or injuries due to flooding.
“At this point, mercifully, we believe all Hoosiers are secure,” Gov. Mitch Daniels said at a news conference. “We hope that will continue.”
Daniels declared an emergency in 10 counties as the Coast Guard was called in from the Great Lakes to help with flooding that has forced hundreds of people from their homes.
Ninety percent of the small town of Paragon, southwest of Indianapolis, was underwater, State Homeland Security Director Joe Wainscott said.
Water reached the first floor of Johnson Memorial Hospital in Franklin, but no patients had to be moved, county Commissioner Tom Kite said, and cars were submerged up to their windshields in the county government building parking lot.
“We have dams failing in the Prince’s Lakes area,” threatening the town of Nineveh, about 30 miles south of Indianapolis, Kite said.
Indiana State Police reported evacuations in the Lake Lemon area about 10 miles northeast of Bloomington. Dams near Gold Point were close to collapse, police said.
Near Martinsville, southwest of Indianapolis, Ben Pace watched motorboats rescuing neighbors. The rain didn’t appear that bad when he woke up, Pace said, but he then watched water rise 6 to 8 inches in his backyard shed.
“Then I realized that it’s worse than it’s ever been,” he said.
A rescuer came by boat to his front door to get him. He managed to grab some clothes and his dog, leaving the home with knee-deep water in his bedroom.
Interstate 70 was closed in Clay County in west-central Indiana, and Interstate 65 and another major route, U.S. 31, both were closed near Franklin.
Residents of Helmsburg, a town of about 6,000 just 40 miles south of Indianapolis, were taken by bus to a YMCA in Nashville, said Wayne Freeman, Brown County Red Cross chairman.
In western Indiana, water more than a foot deep surrounded homes on Terre Haute’s east side. U.S. 41 was the only route open into Terre Haute, and it was down to one lane by mid-afternoon.
J.D. Kesler, deputy director of the Vigo County Emergency Management Agency, said more than 200 people had to be rescued from their homes, vehicles and nursing homes there.
Peter Perdoue, 35, a mortgage broker from Terre Haute, heard a trickle Saturday morning and checked his daughter’s basement room. The water had risen above the window.
“It was almost like I was standing inside an aquarium,” he said.
Within a few hours, sewage started backing into his basement, and it wasn’t long before the waters had filled his basement up to the 10-foot ceiling.
More than 30,000 electricity customers lost power, the Indiana Utilities Regulatory Commission said.
Near Chicago, Will County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Pat Barry said a tornado damaged several homes in the Wilmington area and toppled trees and power lines.
A person was injured on Interstate 57 in the southern suburbs, and a swath of the major highway closed as authorities worked to clear overturned trucks, said state Trooper Mark Dorencz.
Tornadoes were also reported in Lake County, north of the city, and in Livingston County, to the southwest.
Central and southeastern Wisconsin were pelted with baseball-size hail in a storm that blew roofs off homes and toppled trees and power lines. Heavy rains also pelted the area, causing flash flooding.
Authorities said a camper was hurt in Rio and four more people suffered minor injuries after a house had its windows blown out near the Village of Randolph. Authorities also said a tornado spun a police car around.
Flooding built up around Milwaukee, where water as deep as 2 feet in roads caused parked cars to drift and closed parts of an interstate highway.
On the south side of town, two vacant buildings partially collapsed because of the heavy rains, authorities said. No injuries were reported there.
___
Associated Press writers Ken Kusmer in Indianapolis and Ryan Lenz in Terre Haute contributed to this report.
Sailboats out on Lake Michigan are going to have a tough time.
My family is okay. It seems they were at a restaurant in Homewood and rode the storm out in the basement. Thanks to all for prayers and offers of help.
Ray
Excellent! Bet that was an experience!
That's worth a big
from Deep in the Heart of Texas. (Where we could use some rain. Might get some tonight if the line in the Big Bend and New Mexico border area holds together.)
Thank God your family is OK.
:’)
Rained here for awhile today.
Rained here for awhile today.
http://www.reecominc.com/
Dependable.
All we had were minor storms. It all went South of us. Julie even did some yard work early evening.
Everything here at the Yokel household s aokay.
Spent 3 hours (5pm-8pm) with the local EMA on a mutual aid callout to a village south of us. Trees, wires and streets; not a good mix.
There are two vacant houses directly to my south. A 40' elm, with a 54" girth, split near the base and is now laying across both backyards. (We use the vacant backyards as our own private bocce court, boo hoo). We didn't have any damage at all, nothing. Did you?
Getting ready for Round 3!
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