CHICAGO ― Tornadoes tore through Cook, Lake and Will counties Saturday evening, damaging houses and overturning vehicles. No fatalities have been reported.
At 6:04 p.m., a tornado touched the ground near southwestern Monee and moved northeast at 26 miles per hour, according to the National Weather Service.
At 6:53 p.m., a "large" tornado was spotted about two miles north of Chicago Heights near Interstate 80 by the Illinois-Indiana border, the weather service said.
That tornado is possibly responsible for a crash on Interstate 57 that overturned multiple vehicles -- including a semi truck -- in the outbound lanes near Stuenkel Road by Monee, said Illinois State Police Joliet District Trooper Mark Dorencz. All lanes are closed.
The tornado also passed through a beach near a private lake at the South Wilmington Sportsman Club, 24628 County Line Rd. in Wilmington.
"It went through the middle of the beach," said Lindell Roberts, a member of the club's board of directors. "We have a lot of trees down and power lines and stuff like that. A lot of big trees were blown down and limbs lost."
Roberts said nobody was injured and lifeguards evacuated the beach about an hour before the storms arrival. Members of the clubs were sent to various buildings on the ground.
None of the buildings were damaged, Roberts said.
Will County spokesman Pat Barry said the tornado caused minor structural damage to multiple rural homes.
"Fortunately, the path it took was mostly rural farmland areas," Barry said. "They are still assessing the damages and we should have a better idea of what we have tomorrow [Sunday]."
Meteorologist Gino Izzi said tornado damages have been reported in Cook, Livingston, Kankakee and Will counties. Cook County spokeswoman Penny Mateck said the tornado didn't cause any major damage and nobody was injured.
The damage that was reported includes: trees and wires down in Chicago Heights, chimneys blown off of houses, and one roof has been blown off of a house in South Chicago Heights. I-57 is shut down near Manhattan and Monee Road because of downed power lines.
Will County sheriff's department spokesman Pat Barry says the tornado damaged several homes in the Wilmington area and downed trees and power lines.
As of 7:45 p.m., Olympia Fields Medical Center was treating five people with minor injuries from the tornado.
The weather service says the tornado touched down between Richton Park and University Park about 6:30 p.m. Tornadoes were also spotted in parts of Livingston County.
"Most tornadoes are on the ground for a minute or two, but they can last up to an hour. This one has been on the ground for a while," meteorologist Gino Izzi said.
Viewer Rita Alvarez said she was in the Walmart in Lansing, when the weather turned bad.
"After 10 minutes, the power went out, children were crying, people were screaming, some were praying, one lady was terrified saying, 'this is how it happens in the movies.'" Alvarez said. "As soon as we got cleared, many left their carts where they were and ran out the doors to their cars..."
The number of tornados that touched down in the Chicago area may not be known until Sunday.
"We won't know the number of tornadoes that touched down until we go out and survey the area after it clears out, but it is very likely that there were multiple tornadoes from two storm systems," said Izzi about the south suburban tornadoes.
Barry said it appears only one tornado entered Will County. That tornado appeared to be about a quarter-mile wide at the ground, Barry said.
The National Weather Service said a tornado touched the ground in northwest suburban Mundelein at 8:08 p.m., prompting a tornado warning that was quickly downgraded.
Mundelein police could not immediately provide further information.
Showers and thunderstorms are expected to continue Saturday night. Heavy downpours, lightning, hail and gusty winds are possible, the weather service said.
According to Judy Rader from ComEd, 29,000 customers are currently without power in northern Illinois. 25,000 of those customers are in the South Suburbs. The most affected towns in the south suburbs are Chicago Heights, University Park, Monee, Crete, Lansing, Steger and Richton Park, Rader said. Crews are in the field working to resolve the problem.
Contents of this site are Copyright 2008 by WBBM. The STNGwire contributed to this report.
WBBM-AM 780 has been the consistent all news radio voice in Chicagoland for over 35 years and is now streaming online for free. Listen online to Chicago news as it happens around the clock, along with Chicago traffic, Chicago weather, Chicago sports and Chicago business. Subscribe to WBBM's free podcasts for additional Chicago business and Chicago community reports and listen to Chicago news on demand. WBBM news radio is also the home for Chicago Bears, Chicago Auto Show and Chicago Air & Water Show. www.wbbm780.com
E-Mail Story
Print Story
