LAFAYETTE, Ind — Across central Indiana, crews worked to restore power to thousands of Hoosiers after Monday night’s high winds and severe thunderstorms.
One of the areas that was hardest hit was Lafayette in Tippecanoe County.
Heavy rains and strong winds brought down trees and power lines.
“Probably the worst rain I’ve seen probably, over the past year,” said Randy Bulteman, who was sitting outside under his carport during Monday night’s storm, enjoying the rain and a cigarette.
“All of a sudden, I heard a cracking,” Bulteman recalled.
That’s when he ran inside, right before part of a tree landed on his pickup truck outside.
“It missed the carport just barely,” he said.
Not a power line, though, leaving Bulteman without electricity. Tuesday afternoon, he was still waiting for the power to come back on.
“I just went to Panera to charge my phone. So, we’ll figure it out,” Bulteman said.
“I got to figure out what’s going on with the power, see when they’re going to come out,” said James Heidle, who also was still without power at his house nearby.
Heidle spent the day bicycling around the neighborhood, looking at damage.
“We had a lot of strong winds. It damaged a lot of trees and houses,” Heidle said.
“It’s Mother Nature,” Angel Morehouse said.
Morehouse didn’t lose power, but like many others in Lafayette, she spent Tuesday cleaning up after high winds brought down part of a tree in her yard.
“We actually needed firewood, anyways, so we’ll kill two birds with one stone,” Morehouse said, making the best of it, especially people like Bulteman, who’s happy the damage wasn’t worse, but more importantly, that he wasn’t injured.
“I’m just glad I got out of there in time, to be honest,” said Butleman.