Kankakee County, south of Chicago, declared a state of emergency and said local officials and sheriff’s deputies were conducting search and rescue efforts as well as damage assessments. So far there have been no confirmed reports of deaths.
A house in the town of Aroma Park had its roof partially blown off and its walls collapsed, NBC Chicago reported. The local school district will be closed Wednesday.
The resident, who identified himself as Bob, told NBC Chicago that the storm “started getting stronger and I started hearing things breaking and collapsing and pretty soon my stove fell on top of me from above.”
“Everything collapsed, the refrigerator and everything. Luckily, I was in a hole, so I didn’t get hurt at all; I was just trapped,” he said. The neighbors came to rescue him.
Rob Churchill, chief of the Lake Township Fire Department, said in a video posted on Facebook that several homes in Lake Village, Indiana, were destroyed when the town took a “direct hit” from a tornado. People forced to leave their homes were being sheltered in a local school. “It’s going to be a long night,” he added.
In the same video, while standing in front of what appeared to be a destroyed home, Newton County Sheriff Shannon Cothran said, “Please don’t come here. Don’t try to help right now.”
Separately, Cothran told reporters that “so far the injuries have been reported to be minor, but the damage to the house is quite significant.”
The threat of midweek storms and tornadoes makes this the “most widespread and impactful severe weather outbreak so far this year,” according to AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Courtney Travis.
“The superposition of strong winds aloft, abundant Gulf moisture and strong temperature contrasts create an environment ripe for tornadoes, damaging wind gusts and large hail,” he said.
The weather service asked people in the Chicago area to reduce water consumption ahead of the storm to prevent flooding and protect the limited local water supply.
