IN: ELDERLY WOMAN KILLED IN PORTAGE EXPLOSION
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PORTAGE, Indiana (WBBM) — The woman who was killed in a Portage, Indiana, house explosion during severe storms Tuesday has been identified.
Aerial footage of the home in the 6600 block of Harrison showed it had been completely destroyed, with debris scattered around the smoking ruins. The explosion hit and damaged neighbors’ homes and sent debris down the street. First responders had trouble getting to the scene because of downed trees from the earlier storms.
Neighbors told CBS News Chicago an elderly couple had lived in the home for at least 30 years. The husband, they said, had gone to the doctor before the storms hit Tuesday and asked his wife if she wanted to go, but she decided to stay home.
Wednesday morning, family identified the woman as 86-year-old Leona Rice. Her husband and sons were at the home this morning, laying keepsakes on the doorstep, but did not want to speak.
Now all that’s left of the home is the foundation and the stairs that once led to the front door.
Neighbors said when Rice’s husband returned from his doctor’s appointment Tuesday, the home was reduced to rubble and his wife’s body was still inside.
“I got out there, I put my arms around him, and I said come with me, come sit down,” said neighbor Shirley Golob.
“It’s just a sad situation that that had to happen like that,” said neighbor Margaret Clark.
CBS News Chicago First Alert meteorologists believe the home was hit by hurricane-force straight-line winds going 100-1110 mph, the same force as an EF-1 tornado or a Category 2 hurricane.
“Tragedy really. I mean seeing the house down the block blew up and just the destruction everywhere is terrible,” said neighbor Desmond Lord.
Lord lives down the block from the couple. He said his daughter narrowly avoided her own tragedy during the storms as her call stalled when she was pulling out of the driveway, shortly before a massive tree branch fell on it.
“She decided to come back in the house when the storm got bad. Right when she reached the door, tree fell. So she was very lucky. Very lucky. God was in her hands,” he said.
A few houses down, a massive tree also fell on Posey Jacobs’ car.
“I usually park there. I had work at 1, so I was like, getting dressed honestly and ready to go. I’ve been needing to work, so I’m kind of sad,” she said.
Neighbors have come together to pick up the pieces of their community and hope to be spared by the next storm.
“We can recover. God’s will, we will recover. But there’s just a lot of work that needs to get done,” Clark said. “But we will get through it and we will make sure that everybody is fine.”
Neighbors said they smelled gas throughout the community after the explosion Tuesday.
Multiple gas leaks have been reported throughout Portage and other parts of Northwest Indiana that were devastated by the storms, and NIPSCO said it is working to keep them under control and restore power to hundreds of thousands of customers.
City officials said the cause of the house explosion remains under investigation.
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