Portage community cleans up after severe storm and deadly home explosion
— Joni Rainwater and her children were walking along Harrison Avenue Tuesday afternoon when the house in front of them suddenly exploded into flames.</p><p>The blast knocked them to the ground, and left her 14-year-old daughter covered in burning debris. Killed inside the home was Leona Rice, 86.</p><p>Neighbors helped Rainwater pulled the teen from the debris.</p><p>It all happened just as severe storms were beginning to sweep through the area, toppling trees, downing power lines and damaging houses and cars on Harrison and in surrounding neighborhoods.
Reported by 1 outlet — Chicago Sun-Times. See all sources ↓
— Joni Rainwater and her children were walking along Harrison Avenue Tuesday afternoon when the house in front of them suddenly exploded into flames.</p><p>The blast knocked them to the ground, and left her 14-year-old daughter covered in burning debris. Killed inside the home was Leona Rice, 86.</p><p>Neighbors helped Rainwater pulled the teen from the debris.</p><p>It all happened just as severe storms were beginning to sweep through the area, toppling trees, downing power lines and damaging houses and cars on Harrison and in surrounding neighborhoods. The storm also hindered emergency crews trying to respond to the explosion.</p><div class="Enhancement" data-align-center> <div class="Enhancement-item" data-crop=""> <figure class="Figure"><a class="AnchorLink" id="image-cb0000" name="image-cb0000"></a> <picture data-crop="medium"> <source type="image/webp" width="490" height="275" data-srcset="https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/4d18233/2147483647/strip/true/crop/6000x3367+0+316/resize/490x275!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2Fd1%2Ffb%2F89ebd08f4d96b50ea0e31428ba72%2Fportagestorms-260813-2.jpg 1x,https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/aa0e0b4/2147483647/strip/true/crop/6000x3367+0+316/resize/980x550!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2Fd1%2Ffb%2F89ebd08f4d96b50ea0e31428ba72%2Fportagestorms-260813-2.jpg 2x" data-lazy-load="true" srcset="data:image/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciIHZlcnNpb249IjEuMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIyNzVweCIgd2lkdGg9IjQ5MHB4Ij48L3N2Zz4=" /> <source width="490" height="275" data-srcset="https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/a1d98f2/2147483647/strip/true/crop/6000x3367+0+316/resize/490x275!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2Fd1%2Ffb%2F89ebd08f4d96b50ea0e31428ba72%2Fportagestorms-260813-2.jpg" data-lazy-load="true" srcset="data:image/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciIHZlcnNpb249IjEuMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIyNzVweCIgd2lkdGg9IjQ5MHB4Ij48L3N2Zz4=" /> <img class="Image" alt="Trees felled by Tuesday's storms in Portage, Indiana were still in the road on Wednesday, August 12, 2026. " srcset="https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/a1d98f2/2147483647/strip/true/crop/6000x3367+0+316/resize/490x275!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2Fd1%2Ffb%2F89ebd08f4d96b50ea0e31428ba72%2Fportagestorms-260813-2.jpg 1x,https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/ce3a618/2147483647/strip/true/crop/6000x3367+0+316/resize/980x550!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2Fd1%2Ffb%2F89ebd08f4d96b50ea0e31428ba72%2Fportagestorms-260813-2.jpg 2x" width="490" height="275" data-src="https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/a1d98f2/2147483647/strip/true/crop/6000x3367+0+316/resize/490x275!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2Fd1%2Ffb%2F89ebd08f4d96b50ea0e31428ba72%2Fportagestorms-260813-2.jpg" data-lazy-load="true" src="data:image/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciIHZlcnNpb249IjEuMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIyNzVweCIgd2lkdGg9IjQ5MHB4Ij48L3N2Zz4=" > </picture> <div class="Figure-content"><figcaption class="Figure-caption"><p>Trees felled by Tuesday’s storms in Portage, Indiana were still in the road on Wednesday,</p></figcaption><span class="line"></span><div class="Figure-credit"><p>Jeremy Battle/Sun-Times</p></div></div> </figure> </div> </div><p>Portage Mayor Austin Bonta said the city had more than 100 trees down after the storm, many entangled with power lines.
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- — Joni Rainwater and her children were walking along Harrison Avenue Tuesday afternoon when the house in front of them suddenly exploded into flames.</p><p>The blast knocked them to the ground, and left her 14-year-old daughter covered in burning debris. Killed inside the home was Leona Rice, 86.</p><p>Neighbors helped Rainwater pulled the teen from the debris.</p><p>It all happened just as severe storms were beginning to sweep through the area, toppling trees, downing power lines and damaging houses and cars on Harrison and in surrounding neighborhoods.
- How widely is it covered?
- 1 outlet, average source rating 6.0/10.
- When was it last updated?
- 5m ago.
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Portage community cleans up after severe storm and deadly home explosion
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