Neighbors unite to clean up storm damage in LaGrange

LA GRANGE, Ind. - The National Weather Service has confirmed 70 to 75 miles per hour straight line wind gusts caused this damage.

Neighbors tell me this is by far the worst storm they’ve seen.   

Broken trees, branches, and powerlines across Courtney Miller's street. She says one minute it was calm then the next moment, it was chaos.

“The entire road was covered in trees. We had a minimum of three trees right here that came down and a few of our own branches. And honestly by the grace of God, it missed our cars, the house and everyone is safe,” Miller said. 

Miller hired Logan Burnett to paint her house. When he showed up for the job Thursday -- Burnett says he was shocked.

“When I came around the corner, I didn’t realize quite how severe the damage was here. I was pretty nervous, nervous about the paint job of the house, but I was more worried about the customer too. I was hoping their house is still intact. And luckily, this house was missed,” Burnett said. 

Marilyn Morton wasn't so lucky.

“I got up in the morning and was looking around at all the damage. I happened to look up and see that the tree had gone through the roof,” Morton said. 

Morton now has to wait for her insurance company to come in the next few days to survey the damage.   

Jan Frank says despite the storm’s aftermath, he’s happy with how the neighbors came together.

“This community is just ultra-tight, it’s an ultra-small-town feel. Everybody looks out for everybody. The neighbors were all out on the street making sure everyone was okay. And you just don’t find that in a lot of towns,” Frank said. 

The Superintendent of the LaGrange Street Team hopes the damage can be cleaned up within a week.