A Schererville power outage left the northwest Indiana town without electricity as severe storms brought damaging winds, downed power lines and highway disruptions. Outages also affected NIPSCO and ComEd customers across Indiana and the Chicago suburbs.
Severe storms knocked out power across Schererville, Indiana, on Tuesday as damaging winds swept through northwest Indiana and the Chicago region, disrupting highways, bringing down power lines and leaving hundreds of thousands of utility customers without electricity.
Schererville power outage affects entire town
Schererville police said the entire town was without power around 1 p.m. Central Time. Authorities urged residents to remain home and avoid local roads when possible while emergency crews responded to storm damage.
Police said 911 service remained operational but asked residents to use emergency lines only for urgent situations.
High winds overturn semis and close I-65
The storms also created dangerous conditions on major northwest Indiana highways.
Indiana State Police Sgt. Glen Fifield said two semi-trucks overturned along Interstate 65. One overturned near Lowell in the northbound lanes, while another was reported near U.S. 30 on the southbound side.
Downed power lines north of Interstate 94 forced authorities to close both directions of I-65 in the affected area.
NIPSCO and ComEd report widespread outages
By about 2 p.m., more than 283,000 NIPSCO customers and more than 270,000 ComEd customers were without power, according to utility data.
Storm effects extended into Chicago's southern suburbs. Tinley Park officials reported roofs torn from buildings, broken windows and several thousand customers without electricity, particularly along and south of 183rd Street.
Frankfort video shows possible tornado
In nearby Frankfort, resident video showed what appeared to be a rotating column of debris moving through a yard during the storms. The available information did not confirm whether authorities or weather officials had classified it as a tornado.
Emergency officials continued urging residents to limit unnecessary travel as crews dealt with downed power lines, blocked roads and widespread electrical outages. The extent of the damage and the timeline for restoring power were not yet provided in the source material.
