National Weather Service Confirms EF-2 Tornado Struck South Bend, Indiana

“It was like a black wind,” Shari Herman recalled of the tornado that ripped into her and her husband Dan’s south-side property Sunday night while they were inside the house.

Just after the tornado clobbered at least a dozen trees in the yard — but mostly spared their house — it went down the hill and tore through the Growing Kids Learning Center, a preschool and day care facility at 17850 Ireland Road.

The tornado ripped off the roof and caused the east side of the building to collapse. Since it was a Sunday night, nobody was inside.

“We’re going to rebuild,” owner Mike Garatoni said of the center that serves 150 children and employs 35 workers.