Tree crashes onto family's house, splits chimney during storms in Northwest Indiana
CHESTERTON, Ind. (CBS) -- A Northwest Indiana family was counting their blessings Tuesday night after a massive tree landed right on their house during the afternoon storms.
The tree was uprooted and landed on the house where Melissa Bergner and her family live in Chesterton.
"My husband yelled, 'Babe, tree!' and next thing you know, you heard it hit," Bergner said.
The tree crushed the aluminum siding on the chimney, exposing the wood frame and pink insulation fiber to the street.
"It was the biggest tree - and my favorite tree," Bergner said, "but yeah, it's a very large tree."
By the time she stepped on the deck, Bergner could not believe her eyes, with that tree that she adored most in her backyard having split her chimney open.
"I was just worried about where all the pressure was on the house and if it was going to keep going through or not," Bergner said, "but they say it's safe; that it's resting on the fireplace."
The family will not rest easy until the tree is removed. But it is going to take some time.
"Right where the tree and chimney is, is where our bed is up against the wall," Bergner said.
In other words, it could have been much worse if the tree's trajectory had been just a few inches different.
"If you don't laugh, all you're going to do is cry. There's no reason to cry, because we're alive - it's good," said Bergner. "It's just a tree. it's just a house."
The tree that fell on Bergner's house was not the only one in Northwest Indiana Tuesday – as the severe weather brought a blanket of dark, low, and ominous clouds – and rain that reduced visibility.
One man at a rest stop Tuesday said he just pulled to the side of the road waited it out until the storm went through.
The winds, then picked up – and snapped trees and power lines.
"It happened all of the sudden. I mean, winds up to 60, 70, maybe even 100 miles per hour," said Shawn Loc of Porter, Indiana. "Trees went down."
In Porter, Indiana, a large tree came down and was left spanning an entire road. Other trees covered yards.
Despite the severe weather and tree damage, there were no reports of people injured.