Damage reports begin to come in after Friday night storms

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WPTA) - Strong winds, heavy rain and hail ravaged parts of 21Country late Friday night and into Saturday morning.

Reports of tornadic activity were not confirmed by the National Weather Service as of 1:57 a.m. Saturday.

There were numerous reports of power outages across the area from downed power lines. Indiana Michigan Power reported 13,336 outages as of 1:48 a.m. Saturday. Heartland REMC reported 2,234 people affected by power outages at the same time. NIPSCO reported 17,200 customers without power.

Emergency operators were inundated with calls.

Traffic backed up along I-469 in northeast Allen County as authorities closed a stretch of S.R. 37 because of damage. At least one semi-truck was reported to be hanging off an I-469 overpass at Maysville Road. Debris was spotted in fields near Harlan and Woodburn, with damaged buildings and large trees blown over. There were reports of the Amish community fanning out to check on neighbors and begin clearing debris.

Extensive damage was seen along Stellhorn Road, with large power poles down and wires in the street. Portions of Stellhorn were closed because of the blocked lanes. The wind blew down part of a building belonging to CR Carpet on the 9600-block of Stellhorn. Damage was reported along Notestine Road with wires down across the road.

21Alive has teams spreading out across the area to monitor damage.