Harvard prof reveals how to balance college life
By Ally Jay
News Writer
Notre Dame's campus in northern St. Joseph County was untouched Wednesday by tornadoes that produced widespread property damage and power outages in western and outlying parts of the county.
"There were some limbs down," said Phil Johnson, assistant director of Notre Dame Security/Police, "but we didn't sustain any damage to the principal campus."
The National Weather Service confirmed this week that six tornadoes touched down in the region of northern Indiana and southwestern Michigan known as Michiana. It was the area's worst tornado outbreak since the same date in October 1967.
"Eight tornadoes spun across the Northern Indiana National Weather Service office's area of responsibility [which also includes counties in Ohio], ranging in strength from F0 to F3 on the Fujita Scale," according to the office's Web site.
The storms caused one death in LaPorte County, the first tornado-related death on record in October, the Web site indicates. LaPorte County borders St. Joseph County on the east.
The tornado outbreak was the fourth largest on record in the area.
High winds and fierce thunderstorms accompanied the twisters.
Throughout Michiana, the weather left more than 41,000 households without power Wednesday, said Tom Kratt, corporate communications consultant at American Electric Power. By Sunday afternoon, the number had fallen to about 3,000.
On Monday, several hundred customers were still waiting for officials to restore electricity.
"The storms clearly hit in northern St. Joe County, very near campus," Johnson said. "We've been very fortunate that tornadoes seem to go north and south of campus."
"But it certainly has touched the lives of those in the Notre Dame family," Johnson said of faculty and staff who were affected by the storms.
All News Stories for Tuesday, October 30, 2001
