Published: December 24, 2007 06:16 am         

Strong winds knock out power to thousands in Indiana

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Utility crews are expected to work through Tuesday restoring power in northern Indiana knocked out by strong winds.

The National Weather Service recorded wind gusts of over 70 mph Sunday morning. Winds also caused damage to trees and peeled the roof off a trailer home in South Bend.

The Northern Indiana Public Service Co. reported that 28,000 customers lost power. About 7,800 customers still were without power as of Sunday afternoon.

Indiana Michigan Power reported over 7,100 customers without power in the South Bend-Elkhart area, with additional outages in Ft. Wayne, Muncie and Marion.

The storm damaged a charity Christmas light display in Highland. But residents say they’ll still collect donations for a teen battling cancer.