(La Porte County, IN) - On Thursday the National Weather Service confirmed what some locals already suspected. A tornado did indeed touchdown in La Porte County on July 15.
The storm a few weeks ago caused thousands of power outages in the area. Now weather officials have released details, saying an EF 1 tornado about 75 yards across generated winds of at least 100 mph.
The twister touched down for about six minutes just after 10:30 p.m. It developed rapidly near Snyder Road, or CR 200 North, between US 421 and Wozniak Road. Moving northeast, the tornado intensified east of Wozniak near Forrester Road. According to authorities, a 20-acre property in that area suffered extensive damage, with hundreds of hardwood and softwood trees uprooted or snapped. Between Forrester Road and Tiffany Drive, they said, many homes and outbuildings sustained minor to moderate damage from falling trees.
Jeremiah Tutwiler and his family live on Johnson Road, near Jongkind Park, near the end of the storm’s worst damage, where a microburst was reported. Tutwiler said he was outside checking weather conditions just minutes before the hard stuff hit. “There was no wind; it was really hot, really humid, and everything was so incredibly quiet,” he recalled. Then there was a sudden change as rain picked up. Since it was dark, Tutwiler said he couldn’t see much, but sensed that something bad was coming. His family took cover just in time. “Sure enough, as everybody was going down the basement stairs is when the tree came down,” he said.
Tutwiler has many trees on his property. He says he was concerned about a massive maple tree which he estimates to be about 200 years old. Instead, the sudden burst pushed over a 40-foot-tall basswood tree near the corner of his home. It landed right between his house and his truck, causing minimal damage to both. The upper branches of the tree lay gracefully along their front roofline. Tutwiler credits divine intervention. “It was as if the tree was guided by the hand of God,” he said. They immediately posted photos on social media. “Everybody who’s looked at it has said, ‘How… did this happen?’”
Tutwiler is counting his blessings. He said his home lost power for only a few minutes, while the neighborhood across the street was without electricity for several days. As for the basswood tree, Tutwiler said his wife Jennifer and their seven kids spent the following day chopping it up. Their house and truck need a few small repairs, but he acknowledged that the situation could have been much worse. “We definitely lucked out on this one,” said Tutwiler.
