Lake Michigan towns assess Halloween storm damage

WHITING, Ind. - Communities along Indiana's Lake Michigan shoreline are surveying storm damage and beginning cleanup work following a howling Halloween storm that battered the coastline with winds gusts that reached 70 mph and punishing waves.

Friday's storm waves swept 1,000-pound rocks into the lake and buckled Whiting Lakefront Park's concrete boardwalk. It also uprooted 14 trees at the park, far more than previous storms.

"For the most part, I think we came out better than I originally thought on Saturday," Whiting Mayor Joseph Stahura told The Times of Munster (http://bit.ly/1qnRXYL).

Officials at the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore and the Indiana Dunes State Park said Friday's storm caused minor damage and erosion along the shoreline.

Storm erosion also created a four- to six-foot drop-off from a path at Central Avenue Beach, said Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore spokesman Bruce Rowe. And Indiana Dunes State Park property manager Brandt Baughman said high winds shifted the park's Wi-Fi transmitters, ending Internet service at the park until someone can climb a communications tower and reposition the transmitters.

Ogden Dunes Town Marshal James Reeder said the storm stripped away much of the sand along the beach in town adjacent to the state and national parks.

"All in all we fared pretty well except for the beach," he said.

But the storm turned a mile stretch of shoreline in Michigan City into a small cliff due to high winds that pushed sand a few hundred feet inland.

Michigan City crews were busy Monday hauling truckloads of dune grass and other debris from the eroded beach out of the city's Washington Park. By noon, about 40 dump-truck loads were carried out with expectations the cleanup would last until Thursday, said Frank Seilheimer, the city's urban forester.

"There's wood in there. Garbage and stuff but it's mostly just beach grass," Seilheimer said.

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Information from: The Times, http://www.thetimesonline.com