Kankakee County, south of Chicago, declared a state of emergency and said local officials and sheriff’s deputies were carrying out search and rescue efforts, as well as damage assessments. There have been no confirmed reports of deaths so far.
A house in the village of Aroma Park had its roof partially blown off and its walls collapsed, NBC Chicago reported. The local school district is shut Wednesday.
The resident, who gave his name as Bob, told NBC Chicago that the storm “started getting louder and I started hearing stuff breaking and caving in and pretty soon my kitchen fell on top of me from upstairs.”
“Everything caved in, the fridge and everything. Luckily, I was in, like, a hole, so I didn’t get hurt at all — I was just trapped,” he said. Neighbors came to rescue him.
Rob Churchill, the chief of the Lake Township Fire Department, said in a video posted to Facebook that multiple homes in Lake Village, Indiana, were destroyed when the town took a “direct hit” from a tornado. People forced from 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 do not come here. Do not try to help right now.”
Separately, Cothran told reporters that “injuries so far have been reported as being minor, but the home damage is pretty significant.”
The midweek threat of 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 overlap of strong winds aloft, abundant moisture from the Gulf and sharp temperature contrasts creates an environment supportive of tornadoes, damaging wind gusts and large hail,” he said.
The weather service told people in the Chicago area to reduce their water usage ahead of the storm to prevent flooding and protect the limited local water supply.