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CBS 2's Mai Martinez, Derrick Blakley and Ed Curran contributed to this report.
SCHERERVILLE, Ind. (CBS) ― Northwest Indiana residents are busy cleaning up Thursday after severe storms caused widespread damage across a broad swath of the area. The storms tore across an area from East Chicago to Kouts in Porter County.

As CBS 2's Derrick Blakley reports, in Gary Thursday night, the cleanup continues. Countless trees are down, and in many places, the power's still out, with frustration rising.

"No air. Can't plug nothing up. Can't use nothin'. Can't even see," said area resident Lisa Hayes. "Half my food got spoiled."

At the height of the storm, 66,000 customers were without power, according to NIPSCO, the power company that serves Northwest Indiana. Gary and Hammond were hit the worst. Thursday night 37,000 still had no power, 33,000 of those in Lake County. Power won't be restored fully in Hammond until Sunday night and in Gary until Monday night.

Some Gary residents said they had been without power since the storms hit around 9 p.m. Wednesday night, but considering the damage, many were counting their blessings Thursday morning.

"I'm lucky really that it's just my truck and my car, instead of coming in my house with me and my kids," said Fedosa Robinson.

"When you look around and look, it's just by the grace of God this house wasn't hit," added Deborah Benford.

Northern Indiana's utility company says the damage to power lines is so widespread from downed trees they are advising folks who can't manage without power, perhaps until Monday, to just pack up and go.

"For some people, they will want to relocate to where there is electricity because that's an awfully long time to be without power," said NIPSCO spokesperson Colleen Reilly.

But for many homeowners, that's not an option.

"My relatives don't have power either," said homeowner Tamkea Berry. "So I'm probably going to be here."

All around town, neighbors manned power saws to do what this cash-strapped city can't – clear trees from cars, roads and sidewalks. Some were at it all day.

"This is my ninth tree, third block, and third different district of Gary," said resident Jeffrey Burgess.

"If the communities come together and help one another, we can do it," said Rev. Douglas Thames of Faith Tabernacle Church.

And others, like Darai Briner, made the best of the worst, cooking outdoors because he can't indoors, and wondering whether the power company is doing all it can.

"NIPSCO'S lights are on down there, but there ain't no lights here," Briner said. "That's all I got to say about that."

NIPSCO says it is putting all available manpower toward restoring power, however the job of cleaning debris, putting up new power poles and stringing new power lines is both labor intesnsive and time consuming.

As CBS 2's Mai Martinez reports, Gary was one of the hardest-hit areas, with fallen trees and flying debris landing in streets and driveways and leaving backyards looking more like battlefields.

Many Gary residents said they could not believe the extent of the damage.

"Pretty bad," said Terrence Howard. "It's just kind of like a scary sight looking at it, you know. It's dangerous."

Elliot Carswell of Methodist Hospitals added: "I'm 33-years old. I've never seen anything like this in my life. A lot of poles leaning structures from the house falling down – it was bad. This is the first time I've ever seen anything like this."

Winds up to 60 miles an hour pulled at the roof of Brother's Keeper homeless shelter, rainwater soaking everything. The needy are needier now.

Indiana University Northwest in Gary is closed because of the storm damage, and will have no classes until further notice. Students may check the website later today to see about classes on Friday, at IUN.edu.

In Porter County just to the east, a tornado warning was enacted, but no reports of a funnel cloud or tornado touchdown were reported.

But in Schererville, trees were uprooted, fences were knocked down, and concrete was broken, leading many to believe a microburst had struck. Winds gusted to up to 60 mph in some areas.

Witnesses there said downed power lines across several roadways made it difficult for rescue crews and drivers to get through.

CBS 2 viewer Anthony Gagliardi in Hobart sent in photos showing a 10,000 square-foot horse riding arena that was wiped out and a barn that was nearly flattened on Old Lincoln Highway.

As CBS 2 Northwest Indiana Bureau Chief Pamela Jones reports, for the Gagliardi family, the heaps of twisted sheet metal paint the picture of a lifelong dream destroyed.

"The roof seems to have blown off, blown over the stall barn and done a lot of damage to the stall barn," said Beth Gagliardi.

The Excelsior Horse Training Facility has only been running for a year.

One woman was inside the barn when the winds blew through.

"I think a tornado came through because I heard almost like the suction when it took that building down," said Denise Fossey of the equestrian center.

It's the same feeling on a farm a mile down the road where a roof was peeled away.

The storms spread as far west as East Chicago - tearing the roof off of an apartment building.

A volunteer firefighter in LaCrosse, Ind., was also caught up in the storm. He had to be rescued after he was trapped in his truck on State Road 8 by downed power lines.

"Just as he was passing through the area, the high tension wires fell down; the towers just snapped like dominoes," said firefighter John Sullivan.

Indiana State Police reported that trees fell on both the Toll Road, near milemarker 5, and the Borman Expressway (Interstate 94), near the Broadway Street exit, blocking lanes on both interstates.

The tree that fell on the Borman fell on a moving van, according to police.

A semitrailer on U.S. 30 west of Indiana 51 was overturned; state police also reported an overturned truck on Interstate 65 near U.S. 30 had an accident, which also was blocking lanes.

Police in Merrillville, Schererville, Crown Point, Hobart and St. John received calls of power lines down, cars caught in water and trees falling on vehicles and houses.

Part of the roof of an apartment building at the corner of Walsh Avenue and Carrol Street in East Chicago was torn off. Police also were alerted to a roof cave-in at a home on East Porter County Road 550S.

Large transmission towers for high voltage power lines also fell near Kouts, police said.

The storm was also blamed for a house fire in Liberty Township, Porter County and several electrical fires, as well as propane leak in which a large tank was blown from where it stood and ruptured in Pleasant, Township, Porter County. Some people were also reported trapped in their basement by fallen trees, but were uninjured.

Weather-related problems were also seen in other areas. A viewer wrote to CBS 2 around 9:40 p.m. Wednesday that rain on the Southwest Side had left over 8 inches of water under the viaduct at 47th Street and Archer Avenue, and flooding in basements.

There were no injuries reported as a result of the storm.

(CBS 2 and the Post-Tribune are news partners covering stories in the communities of northwest Indiana. If you know of stories happening in this region, contact us.