In August 2009 an EF2 tornado packing winds of up to 120 miles per hour ripped through the Town of Chesterton, originating somewhere in the wetlands behind South Park Acres, then raking the Chesterton Middle School roof and taking a bite out of the heavily wooded Little Calumet River corridor, before leaving this town’s corporate limits to vandalize portions of unincorporated Westchester and Pine townships.
The twister left trees and their limbs and other debris scattered like an angry toddler’s Lincoln Logs along its path, and it wasn’t until the morning after that Street Commissioner John Schnadenberg could even begin to wrap his head around the sheer extent of the damage.
Fortunately, Schadenberg didn’t have to wait long for help. Shortly after daybreak, the Valparaiso Public Works Department already had one of its own crews, with heavy apparatus and other gear, on the ground in Chesterton to shoulder some of the burden.
Now the City of Valparaiso could use a hand, after being hammered by the severe thunderstorm which mostly gave Chesterton a pass on Sunday afternoon, March 30.
As of 2:45 p.m. today, Monday, March 31, 5,768 NIPSCO customers remained without power in Valparaiso, more than one-third of the company’s 14,720 customers still in the dark.
Assistant Street Commissioner Dan Moy believes strongly in remembering and returning favors, so it was an easy decision for him and Schnadenberg to send a grapple truck to the county seat tomorrow, crewed by Senior Equipment Operator Zach Lynk and Equipment Operator Mike Stegeman, each of them packing a chainsaw for good measure.
“It’s a mess in Valparaiso,” Moy said. “They need some more hands and they need some more resources. Sixteen years ago Valpo Public Works paid it forward and now it’s our turn. We were really fortunate yesterday. Weather’s like that. Fluky. A couple of miles—sometime just a couple of blocks—makes all the difference in who gets blitzed and who gets missed. Valpo got blitzed and we’re happy to be in a position to have their back.”
