Storms peel roof off school in Gary, rip down trees around Northwest Indiana
left a path of destruction and devastation in Gary, Indiana — ripping roofs of houses and even a school.
A tornado is suspected to have been to blame for some of the damage in Gary. On Wednesday night, the City of Gary confirmed residents spotted a funnel cloud near 21st Avenue and Hendricks Street.
Multiple homes and businesses saw significant wind damage, along with flooding and trees and limbs coming down.
At 21st Avenue and Wallace Street in Gary, Ebony Perkins received a call to rush home.
"I'm very thankful I wasn't home," Perkins said. "My daughter called because she thought I was at home, and told me she saw it on Facebook that the house was damaged."
Perkins discovered the roof to her house was gone — sitting on the neighbors' house. Light poles crashed through windows and roofs on the block, leaving Perkins and many others unable to stay in their homes Wednesday night.
"What I seen is my whole life is gone," Perkins said. "I just bought this house."
Perkins' home was one of at least seven homes with severe roof damage on the west side of Gary.
"We know a significant amount of structures have been pretty much damaged severely," said Gary Mayor Eddie Melton. "A lot of folks have been displaced from their homes."
Gary Fire Chief Larry Tillman praised the efforts of his men and women took to make sure that they got everyone out of their damaged houses — with downed electrical wires trapping many people.
"We had people staying place until we could actually get to them. Some of them, we did have to make emergency moves, on some of the ceilings, the roof was coming down inside of the homes," Tillman said. "We had to move some of their people from their homes to the garage just to get out of the rain until we could get ambulance crews in the area to bring them out."
Right across the street, Gary firefighters made their way inside Frankie Woods McCullough Academy, a public school located at 3757 W. 21st Ave. Strong winds and a possible tornado peeled back the roof of the school and damaged the gymnasium and classrooms.
CBS News Chicago is told several janitorial staff members were inside the building at the time.
"I can probably say with 100% of certainty that they experienced some fear," said Gary Community School Corporation Supt. Dr. Yvonne Stokes. "However, they were very brave. They did what they were supposed to do. They took cover. I'm happy to report no one was hurt."
Yet the school serves some 515 students. Stokes said the school district is still assessing the damage, but she knows if the storm had moved in just a few hours earlier, all the boys and girls would have been in harm's way.
"Well, had it been two hours earlier, I'd like to believe that my staff would have pivoted and taken our students into their safety zones — but I'm glad it wasn't," Stokes said. "With that being said, we will be looking at making a plan to move forward, because we don't know how long it will take to fix the building."
The school will be closed Thursday and Friday. Spring break starts for the district next week.
Also in Gary, broken glass was reported at the Hard Rock Casino Northern Indiana, and an abandoned structure collapsed.
The City of Gary said its General Services teams were working to clear fallen branches and debris. For downed power lines, residents should use extreme caution and call NIPSCO directly at 800-464-7726.
Mayor Melton said the City of Gary is working with the American Red Cross to make sure displaced residents receive shelter.
The City of Gary also noted that The Monroe Center, at 4101 Washington St., is open for residents in need of an emergency shelter. The Monroe Center can be reached at 219-501-8766.
Highland, Indiana was also hit especially hard by storms that blasted through the Chicago area Wednesday — with numerous trees coming down and at least one landing on a house.
On Forrest Drive in Highland, neighbors really saw the brunt of the aftermath. Two families saw trees completely uprooted on land on their lawn, and Sheila Courtright saw a tree land right on her house.
The portion of the tree that landed on Courtright's house was nearly 6 feet tall, and it was scary for her and her family — who were home at the time.
Courtright and her family have lived in the house for more than 40 years. The front portion of the house saw leaks and damage from the tree falling on it.
Jessica Ramirez lives a few doors down.
"It went from zero to 100 real quick outside," Ramirez said.
She said her mom, Rosie Ramirez, was paying a visit Wednesday afternoon when the storm hit.
"She was parked in the driveway, and as soon as the winds picked up, she was like, 'No, I got to go move my car,'" said Jessica Ramirez.
A horror followed immediately.
"All of a sudden, I feel my car lifting up in the air, and I'm screaming to my husband — I have him on the phone — I said, 'It's taking me! It's taking me!'" said Rosie Ramirez.
Their family, car, and home were all safe after the tree in front was uprooted. It fell in their yard.
Daniel Aguirre also has a home on Forest Drive.
"Once I heard like very hard drops hitting the window, I grabbed my family and ran to the basement," Aguirre said. "I heard a loud screeching sound, kind of like a loud train coming at the house."
Aguirre said his roof and gutter might need some repairs the tree fell on his home.
As for Courtright, she is staying at her daughter's for the time being. She said the family does not want to take any chances.
"This thing could come down further because of the way it's coming out that way," she said of the tree on her house, which also ripped up the sidewalk as it was uprooted.
Highland Public Works employees were seen in trucks Wednesday night, assessing the damage a bit.
However, a lot of the work cannot be done, and the trees cannot to be removed, until the sun is up on Thursday.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
News24
5 hours ago
- News24
Durban beach clip wrongly shared as Russian tsunami disaster
Screencapture/YouTube An 8.8-magnitude quake hit Russia's Kamchatka peninsula on 30 July, sparking tsunami warnings across the Pacific. A viral video falsely claimed to show waves from the quake, but was filmed in Durban years earlier. 'A powerful tsunami hits Russia, sea waves over 13 feet high enter Russia,' reads a Sinhala-language Facebook post shared hours after the 8.8 magnitude jolt struck off the coast of Russia's Kamchatka peninsula (archived link). The tremor was the region's strongest since 1952, the regional seismic monitoring service said. Storm surges of up to four metres (12 feet) were predicted for some parts of the Pacific with more than a dozen nations - from Japan to the United States to Ecuador - evacuating citizens from coastal regions. The warnings were later lifted, allowing millions of temporary evacuees to return home. The only reported fatality was a woman killed when her car fell off a cliff in Japan as she tried to escape, local media reported. The post featured a video of waves crashing onto the shore as people flee from the beach. Similar posts were also shared by users from India, Pakistan, and the Philippines but the footage does not show a tsunami hitting Russia. A reverse image search on Google surfaced multiple YouTube posts sharing the clip in March 2017 (archived here and here). The posts say it shows a beach in the coastal city of Durban. Screencapture/AFP Local media outlets eNCA and Southlands Sun reported that the beaches were closed due to the high tides at the time (archived here and here). Using details from the news reports, AFP was able to confirm the location of the video by comparing it with Google Maps street imagery of a beach in Durban.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Stepping up to help: Area districts providing school supplies this year
Some area schools have made the decision to provide their students all school supplies for the 2025-2026 school year. Veribest ISD, a school nearly 12 miles from San Angelo, announced the district has purchased all school supplies for prekindergarten-12th grade for this school year due to the recent flooding. The July 4 flooding severely impacted the area, damaging homes and businesses and displacing residents. "We only ask that students bring their own backpacks," according to a Facebook post from the district. Reagan County ISD in Big Lake also announced it would provide all school supplies for all grades this year. "Parents only need provide a backpack, and lunchbox (if preferred) and/or water bottle (if preferred)," a Facebook post from the district stated. More: Police: All suspects arrested, charged with murder in San Angelo homicide More: Donate school supplies, get discounts at Texas Roadhouse This article originally appeared on San Angelo Standard-Times: Veribest, Reagan County providing all school supplies this year Solve the daily Crossword
USA Today
3 days ago
- USA Today
What makes coastal California's Crescent City so vulnerable to tsunamis?
Crescent City, California, residents are breathing a sigh of relief after its latest tsunami warning was downgraded to an advisory. Crescent City, a redwood-tree lined coastal California community, is known as the tsunami capital of the country. The city has experienced more than three-dozen tsunamis in the last century. Once again, tsunami waves ‒ luckily modest this time ‒ reached the town, peaking as high as 4 feet near city shores before dawn on July 30, according to the National Weather Service. The waves came just hours after an 8.8-magnitude earthquake, one of the strongest tremblors in recorded history, struck off Russia's east coast, prompting tsunami waves in Hawaii and along the West Coast. "It was a long night for all of us. We were fortunate this time," Crescent City Manager Eric Weir said during a morning briefing on July 30. "There was significant tsunami surges. We're still dealing with those now, but it did stay within the banks." The July 29 tsunami warning was initially expected to last as long as 30 hours in Crescent City, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Weir said the waves caused significant damage to a harbor dock as it lifted decking off the pilings, but the rest of the city was spared. "Downtown is at a high enough elevation that it is open," Weir said, about an hour before the tsunami warning was downgraded to an "advisory" for Crescent City, one of the last West Coast communities considered still at risk. City officials still advised locals to stay away from the harbor, beaches and waterways due to continued wave activity. "Conditions have started to improve," city officials said in a Facebook post. "But the ocean is still angry." Coastal calm: Tsunami evacuation orders lifted in Hawaii, threat to West Coast eases Crescent City's deadly tsunami history What makes Crescent City, a town of about 6,700 residents located about 25 miles south of the Oregon border, so tsunami-prone? Crescent City is vulnerable because it is located near the southern end of the Cascadia Subduction Zone, a major fault line capable of producing dangerous tsunamis and intense earthquakes, according to the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network. Several published studies also indicate that a Cascadia Subduction Zone tsunami can cause severe damage and inland flooding. In 2011, the earthquake in Japan spurred waves of more than 8 feet, destroying Crescent City's harbor. "The water went out to a low tide, but each wave was coming back in and it was getting higher and higher," Max Blair, 79, a volunteer at the Del Norte Historical Society located near downtown Crescent City, recalled to USA TODAY on July 30. "The harbor was a whole different story." One man died during the incident as the harbor docks were smashed and dozens of boats sank, causing an estimated $50 million in damage. The harbor was eventually rebuilt as the first "tsunami resistant port" on the West Coast. Another deadly tsunami struck Crescent City in 1964, triggered by a massive earthquake in Alaska, killing 11 people and injuring 35 others. The tsunami destroyed nearly 300 buildings and homes, causing between $11 million and $16 million in damages. The incident is considered one of the most devastating tsunamis in U.S. history. "I've heard and read about it," said Blair who's lived in Crescent City for more than 30 years. "I hope we never get to experience anything like that one."
