National Weather Service crews may be headed to several communities in Illinois and Indiana to survey damage. Several reports of funnel clouds are yet to be determined whether it was a tornado or high winds that inflicted damage.

Kankakee County had three reports of tornadoes. Winfield and Lakes of the Four Seasons in Indiana are wondering too.

Richard Castro, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Romeoville, Ill., said "We are aware of pretty substantial wind damage that occurred in Winfield, Lakes of the Four Seasons and the Crown Point area." Castro said "Based on the damage, it looks like those winds could have been over 70 miles per hour."

The frame of building under construction in Merrillville visible from Interstate 65 on the west side of the interstate south of U.S. 30 was also destroyed.

Other communities reported downed trees, but the storm appears to have largely spared other areas of the damage seen in LOFS, Winfield and Crown Point.

The Indiana Department of Transportation said fallen trees and limbs caused downed power lines on Ind. 2 that forced the closure of the roadway from Interstate 65 to U.S. 231.

As of 8 a.m., NIPSCO reported 7,719 customers remained without power in the utility's northern Indiana service area, with the bulk of the impacted customers -- 2,862 -- being in Crown Point.
At the peak of the storm, more than 44,000 customers were without power.

94.1 FM, WGFA