Tropical Storm Ike Pounds Southern Indiana

Remnants of Hurricane Ike rolled into Southern Indiana Saturday morning leaving behind a trail of destruction, twisted power lines, and leaving thousands of people without electricity.

Around 10:30 a.m. on Sunday morning the wind began picking up, with wind gusts reaching highs of 75 MPH, according to the Courier-Journal. Winds uprooted trees, tore roofs from houses, twisted signs, and tossed electric power lines around like they were a string.

Many Indiana residents were left stunned, unable to explain what had happened, as many had never seen winds as strong as those brought in by Ike. A blessing to the many left to clean up the mess is that Hurricane Ike did not bring rain with it, although many of the communities affected by the storm have been without rain for quite some time and could have used the rain.

We were able to watch the storm from the comfort of our screened in porch, and every time a gust of wind would blow the trees in the woods would lean over. Trees could be heard snapping in half everywhere around us. During the windstorm leaves, limbs, and other debris floated through the air eerily pouring down in yards far away from where they began.

In downtown Salem, Indiana trees littered the city streets, while grocery stores, restaurants, and gas stations remained closed after the storm due to a lack of electricity. Stop lights were out throughout the city, and temporary stop signs were placed in four way stops to remind motorists to stop.