City suffers storm damages

About 3,600 Bloomington residents were still without power Monday afternoon from a storm that swept through Bloomington Sunday night, downing trees and closing roads -- and it might not be finished yet.\nDuke Energy Indiana spokesperson Angeline Protogere said about 14,000 people in Bloomington and 121,000 Indiana residents experienced power outages from the storm.\nCrews from Duke Energy, which completed a merger with Cinergy Corp. Monday, have been working around the clock and hope to restore power to all customers by late Tuesday, Protogere said. \nThe Monroe County Highway Department cleared more than 100 trees from roadways across the county, said John Chambers, Monroe County Highway Superintendent. As of 4 p.m. Monday, only Lucas Lane and Cedar Bluff Road remained closed. Highway crews cleared most roads by early Monday morning but were waiting for workers from Duke Energy to remove power lines from some roads before they could finish their work.\nBloomington and Central Indiana face the possibility of more power outages and damage this week, said Steve Haines, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Indianapolis. Another storm system moving through the area Thursday could bring severe weather with it, but Haines said it is too soon to tell exactly what the storm system will have in store for Indiana.\nThe spring usually brings potentially dangerous storms to Indiana and this spring is shaping up to be no different, Haines said.\n"Indiana is unfortunately prone to all the variances of severe weather," he said. "A minute change and turning of the wind in the atmosphere can bring hail, strong winds or even tornadic activity." \nAt IU power flipped on and off throughout the storm Sunday, said Jeff Carpenter at IU Work Order Control. Only minimal damage was reported to Work Order Control and the IU Police Department.\nSophomore Mark J. Anderko, who was studying in the Herman B Wells Library Sunday night, didn't see or hear the storm and didn't even realize anything had happened until he left later in the evening.\nSunday night, Walnut Street north of IN-45/IN-46 lost power when a light post and a telephone pole fell on the power lines in front of the Econo Lodge Hotel at 2601 N. Walnut St.\nEmergency workers evacuated about 30 people staying in the motel, said Bloomington City Fire Department Deputy Chief Roger Kerr.\nA section of the roof of the next-door All American Storage lay in the parking lot of the Econo Lodge, covering a trailer, after it had apparently blown off.\nEd Sloan, an All American Storage employee, said he thought 60 to 70 storage units were exposed, though the damage to the inside of the building itself was minimal.\nMonroe County Community Schools operated on a two-hour delay Monday, said MCCSC Superintendent's Administrative Assistant Janet Tupper. School officials closed Bachelor Middle School because two fallen telephone poles cut all power to the school. Work crews had restored power to Bachelor Middle School by Monday afternoon and Tupper said she expected no delays or closings for Tuesday.\nAt the 3600 W. Third St. Marsh supermarket, Sunday's storm shattered a massive front window.\nPower outages and damage were also reported on South Winslow Road Sunday night, Kerr said. No injuries from the storm were reported, Kerr said.\nFreshman James Wilmot drove across Bloomington during the worst of the downpour Sunday.\n"It was almost whiteout," he said. \nWilmot, who is from upstate New York, said he is used to such weather and didn't seek shelter.\nSophomore Olga Liapis-Muzzy also didn't "duck and cover" during the storm even though the power in her Knightridge apartment blinked on and off for about an hour and a half.\nThe Monroe County chapter of the Red Cross opened shelter for Bloomington residents without power Monday evening at the Southside Christian Church, 500 Empire Mill Road. Though the shelter had not taken anyone in at 10 p.m. Monday, Director of Emergency Services, Maria Carrasquillo, said the Red Cross would provide warm bunks and meals as temperatures were expected to dip into the low 30s Monday night.