CHESTERTON — The National Weather Service is looking at storm damage in Northwest Indiana Thursday. They want to know if a tornado or straight-line winds caused the damage in Porter County, near Chesterton, late Wednesday night.

Roofs were torn off both a school gymnasium and an apartment complex. Fortunately no one was seriously injured. Neighbors said the wreckage was like a scene from a movie.

“It just looked like a bomb went off everywhere in the neighborhood," said Chris Walkons, a Chesterton resident. "There was just debris everywhere."

Another resident, Lela Schmidt, said she had just returned home from the store when the severe winds came out of nowhere.

“I felt this air pressure," she said. "My ears were popping, and it felt like the window was going to blow in. So I called my husband and told him we better run to the basement. And it was too late, it had already happened."

Her neighbor, Jim Maranto, was outside getting his mail at the time. He heard debris blowing behind him, turned around, and saw what he described as a funnel cloud.

“I looked behind me and the tornado was coming right at me," he said. "So I got down on the ground and just covered my head and closed my eyes, and felt everything flying past, and it was over in a matter of seconds."

The cleanup will take much longer. The roof of a nearby apartment building tore into Maranto's home. The winds also ripped off the roof of the middle school's gym. Town manager Bernard Doyle said many trees and power lines are down as well.

“We do have some damage, and we're going to be busy getting things cleaned up,” said Doyle.

Despite the damage, community members said this scene had a happy ending, because no one was hurt.