LAPORTE, Ind. (AP) -- A sheriff's detective following a funnel cloud on Thursday had her patrol car picked up and lifted over a 3-foot-high fence before landing upside down in a field.

Detective Shayna Mireles suffered a cut to her head and some bumps and bruises, LaPorte County Sheriff Mike Mollenhauer said.  The late-afternoon storm also caused scattered damage across the northern Indiana county, but Mollenhauer said he did not know of any other injuries.

  The sheriff said he couldn't believe the cruiser was lifted over the fence. "I don't think I would have believed it unless I'd seen it," he said.

  The storm cell that hit LaPorte County was among several thunderstorm waves that moved across the state throughout the day.  The National Weather Service issued a tornado watch for much of northern Indiana, but damage was not reported in any other areas.  No tornado touchdowns were immediately confirmed.

  Carlena Kellems said her house near LaPorte does not have a basement so she decided to drive about a mile to her boyfriend's home with her 19-year-old daughter, two cats and a dog.

  Kellems said began to think she made a mistake when hail started to fall in the rural area about 20 miles west of South Bend. When she finally got to her boyfriend's house, she saw that trees around the home had snapped, damaging a part of the roof and some siding.

  Despite the damage, Kellems was happy to be unharmed. "His house is still standing. Isn't that amazing?" she said.

  The storm knocked down numerous trees and caused the collapse of a 15-foot-tall garage made of concrete blocks along U.S. 20.  Neighbors said the owner of the garage had his home destroyed in a lightning strike last year.

  Mark Sherrick had a tree fall on his pickup truck and hit the corner of a garage at his home where he repairs cars for a living.  He said at first thought the storm's noise was from a passing semitrailer and went outside to see what was happening.

  "I saw the debris across the way there going in circles in the air," he said. "I was yelling at the kids to get down in the basement."