A strong storm early this afternoon has produced thousands of power outages including some in La Porte County.

According to NIPSCO, there were 400 customers without power at 3 p.m. in its La Porte service territory and nearly 300 in its Michigan City service area.

The storms produced heavy rains and strong winds.

The La Porte Water Department reported 1.28 inches of rain fell between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. with most of the precipitation coming down in just over a one hour period.

The rain started coming down heavy again about 3:15 p.m.

NIPSCO reported more than 28,000 outages with many of those in places like Dyer and Crown Point, which combined had over 6,000 customers without service.