17-05-2025
Severe weather does significant damage in LaPorte County, tears off half Amish Structures
TRAIL CREEK — A business in the Michigan City area had the upper half of its main building completely ripped away on the night of May 15 during a storm, which also caused major damage to several mobile homes from fallen trees and branches.
Amish Structures at 8555 W. U.S. 20 in Trail Creek is now out of business until owner Donnie Pawlik rebuilds his main two-story showroom and workshop.
Pawlik said he's already been in touch with contractors about rebuilding the upper level he used for storage.
'It's looking like, hopefully, in two to three weeks I should be back up and running,' he said.
Seven display model wooden sheds were knocked over or blown around, with some of them destroyed, Pawlik said, noting that his other losses included 'dozens of pieces of outdoor furniture.'
'I'm not done assessing everything,' he said.
Some of the debris from his parcel wound up on U.S. 20 or across the highway and in power lines, Coolspring Township Assistant Fire Chief Warren Smith said.
'It was a pretty big mess,' he said.
Large, up to 20-foot sections of the roof landed in an empty lot across the four-lane highway about 200 feet away from the property, said Michigan City resident Bob Johnson, who lives nearby on Pahs Road.
'There are pretty big chunks laying all over there,' he said.
Johnson said the storm lasted for only about 15 minutes and despite the high winds, lightning off in the distance and thunder, it didn't produce much rain.
'It was a quick storm," he said. "Came and went.'
Pawlik, who's been in business there for nine-years, is also a provider of gazebos, horse shelters, tiny log cabins, pole barns and other metal structures.
All of his products are made by the Amish in northern Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
'They build and I sell it,' he said.
Pawlik said he'll order new sheds for recent buyers of the ones damaged or destroyed.
'They were recently sold to customers waiting for delivery,' he said.
Two families in Michigan City at Green Acres Manufactured Home Community and one family at nearby Dunewood Village Mobile Home Community along Indiana 212 were driven out of their residences by fallen trees and branches.
'They had to find somewhere else to stay for the night,' said Michigan City Fire Department public information officer Tia Free.
Free said nobody in the damaged homes was injured.
According to NIPSCO, there were over 4,000 customers in its Michigan City service territory and close to 1,400 customers in the LaPorte area still without power Friday afternoon.
Firefighters responding to Amish Structures had to find other ways to get there, Smith said, because of trees blocking main routes in the unincorporated areas such as Wozniak Road, Johnson Road, 350 North and 300 North.
There were many other trees down in Michigan City in areas that included Michigan Boulevard just south of U.S. 12.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Wind tears off half of Michigan City business, drops trees on homes
