Multiple tornado touchdowns reported across Chicago area as residents clean up from storm damage
CHICAGO (WLS) -- Multiple tornadoes touched down in parts of the Chicago area Wednesday.
The National Weather Service has confirmed a tornado touched down in Cicero and another tornado was confirmed in Huntley.
As many has eight tornadoes may have touched down in the area Wednesday, including near O'Hare Airport, in Countryside, La Grange, McCook, South Elgin, Carol Stream and Oswego.
The National Weather Service will send out teams across the area to confirm any tornadoes and the severity.
In Indian Head Park southwest of Chicago, the storms ripped off the roof of a building.
Chopper 7HD captured aerials of a townhouse in Indian Head Park with a back wall ripped away, exposing other parts of the home. Fortunately, no injuries were reported there.
Large tree limbs toppled onto cars at an apartment complex and near homes. Residents said there hasn't been a storm like this nearby in a long time.
"The sound started real loud and the wind was really bad and you could see everything was falling over," Indian Head Park resident Gary Malone said. "It's the worst I've ever seen and I've been here about 40 years.
In Countryside, in a neighborhood off Hillsdale Road, there was tremendous tree and landscaping damage, and some damage to homes.
"The winds kicked up really hard and really fast and we're like 'Basement now. Grab the dog, let's go.' It was a couple of seconds after that it got really crazy," said resident Hillary Timpe.
"It was pretty terrifying but we've already checked in with everybody and everyone seems to be OK," Greg Timpe said.
One house had its roof partially blown off and the garage collapsed. Neighbors said the woman who lives in the home was taken to a local hospital to be treated for shock, but she did not appear to be physically injured.
"I put the roof on her house years ago and now I feel terrible," said 2nd Ward Alderman John Von Drasek.
Most of the homes seemed to be largely untouched. Some had damaged roofs, broken windows or torn siding.
"She's shook up but she's okay," said Debbie Taylor, whose 95-year-old mother was home alone at the time of the storm. "She was in the house by herself but she's doing great. Most of the neighbors have lived here 60 years, a lot of them. And one of the girls down the street that I grew up with came and said she saw my mom's house."
Homeowners are definitely dealing with lots of broken windows. There are no reports of injuries in Countryside.
In at the Menards in Hodgkins, high winds blew the roof off a shopping cart docking station and into a pickup truck. The owner said his girlfriend, who works at the store, called him when the weather cleared and when he arrived he found the damage.
"It is what it is," said truck owner Jason Wojcicki. "At least everybody is all OK, that's how I looked at it. This is replaceable. People aren't."
Hodgkins police said the majority of the damage was on the north end of the village at the Menards shopping center and along Lenzi Avenue. Police said some of the debris in the Menards parking lot came from a lumber yard hundreds of yards away.
In Huntley, two apartment buildings in the Bakely subdivision were badly damaged, one losing its roof to an apparent tornado. Each building holds four units, meaning eight families were displaced by the damage, but fire officials said no injuries were reported.
"It was heart-racing. It was just a lot. We were standing there and then all of a sudden everything is literally going in circles. Rain, trees, wind," said resident Tracy Pelka.
Huntley Battalion Chief Mike Pierce said firefighters and other emergency services were responding to downed power lines, trees and tree branches, and power outages had been reported.
Building damage appeared concentrated to area near the Bakely subdivision. Pierce said the tornado sirens did sound as the storm bore down.
Anyone in need of assistance, including the people in the damaged homes, can meet with the Red Cross at the village hall, Pierce said.
In Elgin, crews loaded trees and other debris into trucks near Rocky Gap Drive and Stoney Creek Drive.
In McCook, the family-run Skyline Motel was heavily damaged by the storms, leaving multiple families searching for a new place to stay. The garage was blown apart, the roof above the first floor was torn away, and multiple power lines are down around the motel.
The family is now left to rebuild.
"Abrupt burst of wind, loud thunder, the whole room was shaking," said resident Ty Carr. "Power lines fell down and they were sparking everywhere. It was crazy chaos and it was abrupt."
"I just got a phone call from the hotel saying, 'Hey Eddie get back here because the roof is blowing off,'" said resident Eddie Morales.
"It's all gone. The entire place is ruined," said Rajan Patel, whose family owns the Skyline Motel. "I don't even know."
The Associated Press contributed to this report
Source: WLS-TV
