Chicago-area weather today: At least 2 tornadoes kill 2; storms sweep through Lake Village in Newton County, Wheatfield, Indiana

LAKE VILLAGE, Ind. (WLS) — Suspected tornadoes have left extensive damage in northwest Indiana Tuesday, where two people were killed.

The storms also produced hail ranging in size from 2 to 4 inches, the National Weather Service said.

ABC7 Chicago is now streaming 24/7. Click here to watch

The NWS said a supercell that went from Pontiac, Illinois to Indiana spawned at least two tornadoes in Aroma Park and near Wheatfield in Indiana.

NWS initially said there were four tornadoes, but continues to assess.

One tornado lasted nearly 90 minutes, starting at 6:18 pm. and ending around 7:39 p.m.

It tracked nearly 40 miles, starting near Aroma Park and ending near De Motte, Indiana.

Another tornado spawned about 7:43 p.m. and ended about 8:10 p.m. That tornado tracked 10.3 miles across northern Jasper County, starting 4 miles southwest of Wheatfield and ending 2 miles southeast of Dunns Bridge.

A supercell is an intense thunderstorm that has persistent and deep rotation.

The NWS sent survey teams to the area Wednesday to investigate the damage.

In Lake Village, Indiana, officials said the initial search that started Tuesday night confirmed two people are dead and several more dealing with serious injuries.

Officials said an elderly couple was killed after a tornado stuck a home in the 8000-block of 600 W.

Family identified them as Ed and Arlene Kozlowski.

The Newton County Coroner’s Office said they were 89 and 84 respectively.

Their preliminary cause of death has been ruled as “multiple blunt force trauma,” and an autopsy has been scheduled for Friday morning at the Tippecanoe County Coroner’s Office in Lafayette, Indiana.

Officials believe the number of seriously hurt is fewer than 10 people.

One woman said she came to see her sister’s home, but there was only a mangled car that looks familiar.

“This is devastating,” Christine Kwintera said.

Kwintera said she got a call Tuesday night that her sister and brother-in-law died in the storm. Their grandson found them in the yard behind the house.

She said the Kozlowskis lived there for decades, enjoying the quiet life in their retirement.

“She was good to everyone, all the kids; she was a good person,” Kwintera said.

“They were just wonderful, wonderful people,” neighbor Theresa Figueroa said. “I’m just a loss for words, but they were there forever. That was their forever home and there nothing he would not do.”

Tornado sirens gave Lake Village residents a little bit of warning before the storm struck Tuesday evening. Officials say that may have prevent even more deaths and injuries.

“The National Weather service hit it out of the park. They were informing us beginning early yesterday morning that this was coming. I can say without a doubt they saved lives with their ability and skill,” Indiana State Police Sgt. Glen Fifield said.

“It’s just devastating. It’s like a war zone,” neighbor Rich Figueroa said.

Neighbors of the couple were among those who lost their home. The Figueroas said they had just left and watched on their surveillance cameras as the storm approached.

“Was watching, I could see dark clouds coming and the camera just went dead,” Theresa Figueroa said. “It’s hard; it’s very hard.”

Other neighbors are still grasping the loses.

“It horrifying actually knowing what was here and seeing the devastation; it’s really saddening,” neighbor John Jennings said.

“It’s awful; it’s awful. We are very lucky. The families around us that have lost lives and lost their homes is awful,” Diana Nelson said.

The tornado ravaged through about 3.5 miles of town. Four firefighters had their own homes severely damaged.

“Total devastation, there were houses that were collapsed. There were people trapped in houses. There is livestock loose. Pretty much anything that you have seen before on newscasts and on videos,” Lake Township Fire Chief Rob Churchill said.

“It was the longest twenty seconds I ever had,” Steve Travis said.

Trees and power lines are still down on Old 41 Road. That’s where Travis, an Army veteran, said he had to hid in his closet, as his home was being ripped apart.

“It’s louder than a freight train. It’s like a building falling down, the vibrations,” he said. “The whole building was shaking.”

When it hit, Travis was forced to react.

“We knew it was coming, you know, by the sirens and everything,” he said. “I seen the dumpster move. I slammed the front door. I took off down my hallway to go to the bedroom.”

Travis said he was hit with pieces of his ceiling, as the roof came off.

“I climbed in the closet, grabbed a shirt, covered my face, couldn’t breathe because the insulation flying around. Like I said, that’s the longest 20 seconds I ever lived in my life,” he said.

Like others’, his Lake Village, Indiana home is now unrecognizable.

Walls were ripped apart, with debris strewn across a large stretch of road.

“Nobody could get to us because the power lines were down, trees were down,” Travis said. “It’s something you’ll never forget for the rest of your life. I can tell you that, right now.”

More than 250 first responders from neighboring counties rushed into Lake Village late Tuesday night to immediately begin rescue efforts.

Crews were forced to work in the dark as NIPSCO reported more than 2,500 outages near Newton County and surrounding areas, leaving some people trapped under their collapsed homes all while rain continued to come down.

“There’s some miraculous things that happened. We found a man inside vehicle that trees had fallen all around him, and it’s like he was protected by those trees. We’re gonna hear stuff like that,” said Lori Postma, with the Lake Township Volunteer Fire Department.

The sudden shock of it all still plays in the Buschmans’ minds. They rushed to their bathroom for safety as the tornado sent trees flying through their yard.

“Two-inch hail and all I heard was no swishing or anything; it just hit. I stood there and watched it from here to there, and then I left,” Bud Buschman said.

Chopper 7 was over the destruction Wednesday. Vehicles were strewn about like toy cars. Buildings were reduced to lumber and scattered like matchsticks.

A convenience store and gas station were also destroyed.

With a lengthy rebuild ahead for the town of roughly 1,800 people, neighbors are quickly jumping into action to help each other.

“That boy on our roof, I don’t know him he’s from Dumont, says he’s a contractor. He wants to cover it up and if we need help call him for nothing. You can’t find people like that everywhere,” Mrs. Buschman said.

There’s an estimated 70 downed poles across Newton County.

Cold weather has added the the clean-up challenge Wednesday.

Sandy Little’s son-in-law brought out some of the heavy equipment to clear the fallen trees from her yard. One fell onto her living room. She was not home at the time, and feels fortunate compared to some of her neighbors

“Kind of numb, it’s worse down there. I got lucky,” Little said. “Everybody helps everybody else. That’s just the way we are.”

Some of her neighbors lost everything. Their houses were completely destroyed.

Trees fell on cars. Pam Bond was home across the street as the tornado came through, uprooting massive trees but sparing her home.

“It’s very scary. I never wanna go through that again,” Bond said. “Just got really loud, sounded like a train, getting ready to come through the house.”
But

A crew from Quad County Roofing is trying to provide temporary cover for damaged roofs to protect the interiors.

“We’ve been trying to help everybody out from the tornado. If anybody needs a tarp, we’ve been doing it for free today just to help our community,” Eric Smith said.

Wheatfield vows to rebuild

One of the tornadoes, an EF1, came through on State Road 49, just south of Wheatfield. It damaged at least 20 homes.

The town is vowing to rebuild.

Some returned to the damage site Wednesday searching for what can be saved.

Shaken families were left behind.

“Most of them are kind of in shock. They’ve never been through something like this before. I’ve never seen something this devastating in our area,” Jasper County Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Brandon Napier said.

Wheatfield Fire Chief Mark Ratliff says sirens and other alerts started sounding about 45 minutes before the tornadoes hit. So residents had time to get to safety.

“A lot of them I’ve talked to who have lost their houses, they were already in their crawl spaces interior portion of rooms,” Ratliff said.

Two people suffered minor injuries, with one person already released from the hospital.

Ratliff says it was his first time seeing a tornado in-person.

“We could actually see it in the distance as it was coming across the area in back of the lightning,” Ratliff said. “It was scary.”

Napier says he’s appreciative of all the help that poured in since the storm, and the close-knit community of less than 1,000 people will rebuild.

“It was very overwhelming and humbling to see every department from Remington, outside of our university, coming into our area to help,” Napier said.

People impacted by the storm can go to North Newton High School for support. Indiana 211 is accepting damage reports.

STAY ALERT | Download the ABC7 Chicago app to get latest weather alerts

Cook County Radar | DuPage County Radar | Will County Radar | Lake County Radar (IL) | Kane County Radar | Northwest Indiana Radar