Lights out in Northern Indiana

Residents in South Bend and Elkhart are still without power after a tornado struck the area Tuesday afternoon. \nThe damage was inflicted by 80 mph winds that "uprooted and halved trees," said Kim Sobchak, Secretary of the South Bend Engineering Department. "(The trees) fell onto houses and cars. Basically the south side got hit pretty hard -- there are downed trees everywhere," Sobchak said. \nThe tornado was reportedly seen touching down near Marian High School and the Blair Hills region of Mishawaka, which borders South Bend's eastern region. Fortunately, there were no reports of injuries. \nBy Wednesday, 42,000 residents in the area were without power including 30,000 of those in South Bend. American Electrical Power has been working to restore these areas as power was returned to 25,000 residents over the course of the week. \n "16,000 customers are still without electricity," said David Mayne, Spokesperson for AEP. "We have several transmission poles that were completely splintered," he added. \nAccording to Mayne, the storm was the area's worst in years especially in regard to the amount of damage done. AEP officials are still not certain when power will be restored to the downed regions. \n "There are days' worth of work before we restore service to customers," Mayne said. \nSouth Bend schools were scheduled to open yesterday but the date had to be moved back due to concerns over transportation and building safety with some buildings still without power.\nThe opening date has tentatively been rescheduled for next Tuesday. Government departments in South Bend and Elkhart have been working feverishly to clear the streets of littered trees and downed power lines. \n"Since the storm, all the departments are assessing the damage and cleaning up," Sobchak said. \nWal-Mart employee Audrey Hamilton said the South Bend store has been filling increased amount of requests for bottled water and generators. \n "I know we got more bad weather (coming) so I hope (the power) doesn't go out again." \n-- Contact state editor Aaron Uslan at auslan@indiana.edu.