Storm leaves trail of debris in wake

Severe weather ripped through Bloomington Wednesday, causing power outages, disrupting traffic and causing headaches for residents. \nAfter a mild day was a wild night as severe thunderstorms tore through Monroe County and wreaked havoc throughout Bloomington.\nMeteorologists with the National Weather Service said that funnel clouds were reported in Monroe and Greene County, along with reports of wind gusts, torrential rain and large hail.\n"The worst of this storm passed by 6 p.m.," said John Franks of the National Weather Service. "While very impressive, storms like these are not unusual for this time of year. They may not occur every year, but they should be expected."\nSirens wailing at 5:15 p.m. ushered in the storm with wind gusts of 70 to 90 miles per hour whistling between trees and power lines. Branches flew across streets, and rain pelted students caught outside. The rolling clouds turned shades of green and black as residents ran for cover. Funnel cloud sightings in other counties prompted tornado warnings for Bloomington.\nTornado warnings remained in effect for Bloomington until 5:47 p.m. Bloomington Police Sgt. Rick Helms said he saw typical storm damage throughout the city.\n"Tonight we had problems with downed trees and power lines," he said. "Some transformers acted up, and there were power outages, but nothing too serious. There were no injuries reported (as of 6:30 p.m.). Right now, we are just dealing with the aftermath of the storm."\n Among other incidents, a tree fell on a vehicle near 15th Street and College Avenue. Rain flooded intersections throughout the city. Minor traffic accidents occurred at several intersections.\n Bloomington Township Fire Department saw the same problems as the police, dealing with downed lines and minor damage to vehicles and houses.\n "We only had six or seven calls tonight," said Russell Edwards, a fireman. "Those were mostly uneventful. Power lines were down all over. We did have one lightning strike at a residence off of Russell Road. There was no fire, just some minor structural damage."\n The city fire department had several similar calls, responding to sparking transformers and fallen trees.\nThe storm affected much of the Bloomington grid, disrupting power to residents who live west of Walnut Street and north of 10th Street. Angelina Protogere of Cinergy/PSI Corp. said 4,800 Bloomington residents were without power as of 7 p.m., with no estimates as to when their power will be restored.\n"We are still assessing the damage from the storm," Protogere said. "There were 38,000 Indiana residents without power due to the weather earlier this evening. Power had been restored to approximately 18,000 customers by 7 p.m. We are working to restore service to the remainder as quickly as possible, but we cannot estimate at this time when that will be."\nShe said that if there is a disruption of electrical service to call (800) 343-3525 to report the outage.