After a double-shot of severe weather, LCC Disaster Response deploying to Indiana, Northern Illinois

Survey, cleanup crews helping churches, residents, communities
​after derecho and 20 tornadoes rip through 2 states

The damage is heartbreaking. ​

Roofs ripped off. Houses torn apart. Trees toppled. Powerlines strewn everywhere.

The nation’s new tornado alley might be in LCC’s backyard. 

The severe storm system that hammered Northern and Central Illinois and Northwest Indiana on June 10-11 included a derecho with 80-90 mph winds followed by at least 20 tornadoes, including three EF-3 twisters of 136 to 165 mph that struck the towns of Streator and Washburn in Illinois and Hebron and Kouts in Indiana.

Heavily populated Merrillville, IN, took a direct hit from an EF-2 tornado with estimated winds of 100-120 mph, according to the National Weather Service. Other areas suffered damage from EF-1 tornadoes. 

This week, Lutheran Church Charities Disaster Response staff and volunteers are deploying across both states to bring chainsaw assistance, dragging, and debris removal.

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Multiple towns and churches in the Northern Illinois District have reached out to LCC for assistance, including Streator, where LCC will help when it is declared safe. Over the weekend, Lutheran Early Response Team (LERT) volunteers completed work at seven sites that suffered damage from straight-line winds and will continue to help at two more sites near Chicago churches today.  ​

In both states, LCC responders are trained to bring care, compassion, and the presence of Christ to these hurting communities in the midst of cleaning up.

In Northwest Indiana, Pastor Josh Osbun, Indiana District Disaster Response Coordinator, invited LCC to provide chainsaw assistance to multiple towns after three separate tornadoes struck the area. In Merrillville, an EF-2 twister destroyed more than 200 structures, including a local high school and middle school.  

Osbun and Deaconess Kathy O’Day, director of LCC Disaster Response, have begun assessments of the damage this week and met with Merrillville officials, who expressed gratitude for the help. 

“You are the only volunteer group so far offering free skilled labor to help our residents,” they told LCC.

The storms’ destruction appears widespread with large trees uprooted, roofs torn apart, power poles snapped, and wires strewn everywhere. Some areas are still restricted for traffic, as of this morning. 

"It was a scary night,” O'Day said.

In a survey of a few parts of town, residents told Osbun and O'Day that they feel overwhelmed and unsure of what the future holds. 

“As we walked the neighborhoods, we met several homeowners and had the opportunity to share the hope of Christ and pray with them,” she said. “They couldn’t believe we were offering to return to help remove their uprooted and damaged trees from their homes and yards.”

LCC volunteers and LERT crews began a two-week deployment today throughout Illinois and Indiana that will last until at least June 27. Trinity Lutheran Church in Crown Point, IN, will host the volunteers. LCC anticipates additional volunteer help from churches in South Bend, IN, and southern Indiana.  

For O’Day, this deployment hit close to home — literally. The areas damaged by the Merrillville EF-2 tornado are four miles from her home, and the EF-3 twister in Hebron was about five miles away.

“This is very personal for me," she said.

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