CHICAGO, UNITED STATES (AP) – A National Weather Service (NWS) team will surveyed damage in northeast Illinois yesterday, where fierce winds from suspected tornadoes ripped roofs from buildings, downed trees and sent residents scrambling for safety as sirens sounded.
The weather service warned on Wednesday evening that a confirmed tornado was on the ground near Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport. Passengers took shelter and the storm disrupted hundreds of flights, but there were no immediate reports of injuries.
A short time later, the weather service said the Chicago forecast area was currently tornado warning free. The storm moved into Michigan before passing through the state and into Canada early yesterday. Tornado watches that were in effect for parts of Michigan, Indiana and Ohio all expired.
Ty Carr, a resident of the Skyline Motel in McCook, Illinois, said a tornado tore off the roof.
“Just chaos,” Carr said, cradling a toddler as he spoke to reporters. “It was really fast, and the noises and the crackling and the wind – it was just something I’ve never seen or been through, you know?”
Rajan Patel, whose family owns the motel, said his family came to the Chicago area in the 1990s with nothing, and now their motel is severely damaged.
“The entire place is ruined,” Patel said. “I don’t know, man. I don’t know how to recover anything. I don’t know.”
The weather service posted a map on social media highlighting several areas where tornadoes are suspected to have touched down, noting that they were spawned by rotating thunderstorms known as supercells.
A team surveyed damage yesterday to determine an official count of the tornadoes, their tracks and intensity ratings.
Hillary Timpe in Countryside, Illinois, a suburb southwest of Chicago, who was with her husband, Greg Timpe, said a tornado damaged homes in the neighbourhood, but luckily no one was hurt. It also ripped their 100-year-old tree out of the ground.
“When the winds kicked up really hard, really fast, and I’m like, ‘Basement – now! Grab the dog, let’s go!’ And it wasn’t more than a couple seconds after that, that got really crazy.”
The storm moved through quickly, Greg Timpe said. “It really left as quick as it came,” he said. “It was maybe 10, 20 seconds, and it was out of here, and all this.”
