Cleanup continues in Merrillville, Indiana, after last week's strong storms
The cleanup continues in northwest Indiana after an EF-2 tornado ravaged a neighborhood in Merrillville.
It's a similar story, as utility crews have also been working around the clock to restore power.
The worst of the damage was found along Taft Place, where homes were ripped open, and tree branches were left around the neighborhood. Like folks in Chicago, thousands of people have been without power for four days.
A mess made in just moments is taking days for residents of Merrillville, Indiana, to clean up.
"Tree limbs, some shingles from other people's homes, things of that nature. some wood," said resident Sigmund Gatewood.
Gatewood assured the tree limbs left behind are as heavy as they look ... taken down by an EF-2 tornado last Thursday.
"Shocked. Shocked that it happened here," he said.
Gatewood is one of more than 8,000 still without power. NIPSCO says nearly 3,000 poles and 15 transmission lines were damaged in the storm.
"When I came out and looked at the left side, I was like, 'Oh yeah, it got me,'" Gatewood said.
His truck was left damaged, but his house is intact.
Around the corner and down the block, Catherine Taylor Easter will have to rebuild the home she called her sanctuary.
"I loved the ability to be able to come home and know that there's just total peace, you know, and I had just redecorated," she said.
Easter said she was out of town when the tornado tore apart homes on Taft Place.
"When neighbors called, they was crying, you know, they was like, 'It's gone! it's gone! it's gone! it's gone!' and I'm like, calm down. what's gone?" she said.
The tinsel she once used to decorate the house for the holidays now dangles in debris.
"Never in my thoughts did I entertain a tornado," Easter said.
A sanctuary for 20 years until the moment a tornado touched down.
"Only thing I can do is roll with the punches. You know, just have patience and know that is gonna work out," she said.
As of Monday afternoon, NIPSCO's outage map shows that 71% of 83,000 outages are in Merrillville. Power is expected to be restored by the end of the day on Wednesday.
