After storms hit Portage Tuesday, Barb Corey went outside to assess the damage. Once outside, she met her next-door neighbors, who were also looking at the damage. The three stood on Corey’s front porch, talking about the storm.
“I don’t even know what happened next,” Corey said, standing near the damage in her yard. “I don’t even know if I heard the boom. I just heard something; a gust of wind came at me, then I felt an intense heat. … I just remember looking at my (other) neighbors’ house, and it was on fire.”
Corey’s eyes welled up with tears as she looked at what remained of her neighbors’ home.
“We were really good friends,” she said. “And now that woman is gone. Looking at all the fire and the heat, it’s just sad. … There was nothing that could help her.”
Corey and other neighbors said an 86-year-old woman had died in her home near the corner of Jefferson Street and Harrison Avenue from a fire caused by an explosion Tuesday afternoon.
The Lake County Coroner’s Office has identified a second person who died in the wake of the severe storms.
The Lake County Coroner’s Office at 12:21 p.m. August 11 was dispatched to a parking lot at 5223 E. Dunes Hwy., next to the Miller Collision Center in Gary’s Miller section for a body after a bystander called 911, according to a release.
The woman, who the office identified as Paula Plebanski, 58, was struck by roofing material that blew off during the storm, the release said.
Plebanski was homeless, according to the release. A toxicology screen is pending.
Porter County Coroner Cyndi Dykes said an autopsy was performed Thursday morning on the victim of the house explosion, which revealed cause of death to be blunt force trauma related to the explosion. Dykes said Sunday that the woman who died was identified as 86-year-old Leona Rice.
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Rice’s husband was not home at the time of the explosion, Corey and other neighbors said Thursday. Multiple neighbors recalled him walking up to the street to look at the house, asking if his wife was alive.
“I don’t like to give false hope,” said 76-year-old Michael Ritter, the couple’s other next-door neighbor. “I said, ‘(to the husband), we think she’s in the house.’”
Ritter has lived in his house for almost 50 years, he said Thursday. He lived next to the couple for about 28 years.
“She was a very nice neighbor and a wonderful person,” Ritter said of the Rice. “I’d see her out in the yard and talk to her. … She had a lot of friends in the area, … she was just, you know, a little more laid back.”
When the storm hit Tuesday, Ritter was home. As the winds and rain died down, he looked at the damage to his house and yard, including a tree that fell on his garage.
“My wife and I were in the garage, just starting to work on that,” Ritter said. “She was standing by a window, and all of a sudden, everything was shaking.”
A garage window blew in and hit his wife, Ritter said, but she wasn’t hurt.
“I said, ‘What the hell was that?’” Ritter said. “And she said, “Their whole house blew up, and it lifted off the ground and came right back down.’ That’s exactly what it looked like.”
The fire started in the property’s northeast corner, Ritter said, near its gas main. He said it started small and continued to grow.
Corey had damage to her house from the storm, her daughter, Tracey Carpenter, and son-in-law, Erik Carpenter, told the Post-Tribune. Flames melted her siding, windows flew into Corey’s windows, and the garage door partially fell in.
Insulation from her neighbors’ house had also landed on Corey’s car, and trees had fallen during the storm. Corey had listed her house for sale, but Erik Carpenter said he thinks it will now be condemned.
According to Post-Tribune archives, the cause of the Tuesday explosion is still under investigation. The call for the house fire came at 12:20 p.m. Tuesday, according to Post-Tribune archives, and Portage first responders relied on streets and sanitation crews to clear the way.
Arrival was delayed because of poor road conditions following the storms, Portage Fire Chief Chris Crail previously told the Post-Tribune.
“It took them at least an hour to get over there,” Ritter said. “And we just sat there watching our neighbors’ house burn.”
While they waited for police, multiple neighbors tried to stretch their hoses to the couple’s house.
“We were hoping to put the fire out,” said neighbor Jojo Balce, 45, “but you know, that’s hopeless.”
Balce and his wife were talking with Corey on her front porch when the explosion occurred Tuesday. After seeing it happen, Balce said he was heartbroken and in shock.
“It’s scary, definitely,” Balce said. “I was scared for my wife, and I was scared for Miss Barb (Corey). They were screaming. … (Corey) was scared that her house might blow up, too, and that my house could be next. … It’s just awful.”
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Balce planned to check on the couple following the storms, but before he could get to the house, he saw the explosion.
Balce didn’t know Rice well, he said, because she was pretty quiet. He’d see her husband from time to time, though, Balce added.
“You don’t always see them, but when you do, it’s special,” he said. “She was nice, but didn’t talk much — I usually did the talking.”
Brian Parker, 68, lives down the street from where Rice’s home was located. Parker was outside assessing damage after Tuesday’s storm with others when he heard the explosion and saw others run over to the fire.
While they waited for first responders, Parker said the fire continued to get bigger.
Parker said he’s friends with Rice’s husband, and he didn’t see her much because she stayed inside most of the time while he worked outside. While the husband looked at the house fire, Parker said he gave him a raincoat to wear.
“Later that afternoon, he handed me my jacket back, and I said, ‘If you want to keep it, keep it,’” Parker said. “I said, ‘If you need anything, call me.’ He goes, ‘All I own is the clothes on my back. I didn’t even take my phone with me — it’s in the house.’”
It’s heartbreaking to see the remains of the couple’s home, Parker said.
“Nothing compares to the loss of life, home and everything that you had for 28 years,” he said. “How do you even wrap your head around it?”
[email protected]; freelance reporters Michelle L. Quinn and Doug Ross contributed.