(La Porte County, IN) - It appears La Porte County was not impacted much from storms last night that produced tornadoes as close as Starke County.

 

Cass-Clinton Township Fire Chief Jeff Mitzner said there were high winds, heavy rain and pea-sized hail in the Wanatah area but he wasn’t aware of any tornadoes in that immediate area.

 

He said 1.6 inches of rain came down at his residence in less than a half hour.

 

"I think we dodged a bullet," he said. 

 

A lightning strike apparently was to blame for a house fire that left an outside wall charred in LaCrosse.

 

Coolspring Township firefighter Warren Smith said conditions were similar during the storm at his residence near Pinola.

 

“We had lots of wind.  Lots of rain and a whole lot of hail,” he said.

 

Smith said the hail was the size of a nickel or dime.

 

La Porte resident Bob Wellinski was out storm chasing for the National Weather Service in southern La Porte County when a tornado appeared to have touched down.  Wellinski said he didn’t see the tornado because it was so dark but spotted it later in pictures he took of lightning and other elements produced by the storm.

 

He estimated the tornado was about a mile away from him and possibly on the Starke County side of the county line with La Porte County.

 

“It was running pretty much parallel to me,” he said.

 

Not much storm damage was reported in La Porte County.  La Porte Street Department Supervisor Ian Eldridge said the only damage he knows of was a fallen tree branch his crews removed from Waverly Road.

 

NIPSCO reported just a handful of power outages in the La Porte area this morning and 55 customers without service in the Michigan City area.