Incredible pictures of Midwest tornado devastation after SIXTY twisters killed eight people and destroyed Illinois town
- 8 people killed after dozens of tornadoes flattened large parts of the Midwest
- 3 died in Massac County, 2 in Washington County, 1 in city of Washington, Tazewell County and 2 in Michigan
- Winds of 166 to 200mph reported in Washington County, The National Weather Service confirmed
- Unusual late season storms moved east at about 60mph over five hours on Sunday
- Dozens treated for injuries in Peoria as rescuers scrambled to uncover survivors in at least 70 leveled homes
- A Chicago Bears and Baltimore Ravens game delayed for two hours as storms approached Chicago's Soldier Field
By Ashley Collman, Joshua Gardner and Becky Evans
|
Eight people have been killed and scores of homes destroyed after at least 60 tornadoes and intense thunderstorms swept across the American Midwest yesterday.
States of emergency have been issued for seven Illinois counties in the wake of a series of powerful tornadoes that blew flipped over cars and uprooted trees.
Dozens of people were injured in the unusually powerful, late-season tornadoes. Three people were killed in Massac County, two in Washington County and one person died in the city of Washington, Tazewell County. On Monday, officials confirmed two people also died in Michigan.
There are fears that some residents are still trapped inside their collapsed homes.
The National Weather Service confirmed preliminary EF-4 tornado damage in Washington County in southern Illinois, with winds of 166 to 200 miles per hour.
Scroll down for videos
Deadly: Eight people were killed and dozens of homes devastated when up to 80 tornadoes struck Illinois and the surrounding states
Disaster: Jeremy Janssen of Mackinaw Fire Department walks through debris in Washington after the tornado struck
Aftermath: Trees were uprooted and cars flung in the air in the tornado winds that reached speeds of up to 200mph
Wreckage: Many homeowners have lost everything as their houses were flattened by the string of tornadoes
Praying for mercy: A resident of Washington, Illinois, one of the hardest hit communities in Sunday's storms, surveys the damage to her home and neighbors
Dark calm: Heavy damage to the roof of the HP building from a tornado is seen in the eerie after storm moonlight on Hoffer Street in Kokomo, Indiana
Frantic: Residents search through a neighborhood in Washington after a tornado and strong thunderstorms swept through part of the town destroying several homes
In shock: A boy takes a break from helping comb the rubble of Curt Zehr's home in Washington. Zehr's wife and adult son took shelter in their basement as their farm house was destroyed
Unthinkable: A man stands near a pickup that belonged to farmer Curt Zehr after a tornado blew through Zehr's farm on Sunday
'The tornado happened in my backyard, and you can hear people screaming': Anthony Khoury captured the twister on camera in Washington
The storm is moving east and forecasters say could still cause damage in New York
The storms moved dangerously fast, tracking east at 60 miles per hour, with most damage caused within just five hours.
In two communities, including the Illinois town of Washington, population 15,000, one of the estimated 60 twisters smashed through and destroyed at least 70 homes.
Dozens of injured residents were rushed to nearby Peoria, Illinois, for medical treatment as rescuers continued to scour leveled neighborhoods in search of survivors trapped beneath debris.
'It was complete destruction,' Anthony Khoury, who lives in Washington, told CNN. 'There are people in the streets crying.'
Khoury said that all he could do was pray as he watched a tornado touch down and heard toward his home.
'The tornado happened in my backyard, and you can hear people screaming,' he told CNN. 'We were freaking out.'
Khoury and his home managed to survive the storm.
Three people were killed in Massac County, two in Washington County and one in city of Washington, Tazewell County.
The Washington County coroner announced that an 80-year-old man and his 78-year-old sister died when a tornado hit their home in New Minden, Illinois.
New Minden and Washington, which
were both severely damaged by the tornadoes, are separated by nearly 200
miles and the distance attests to the fury and speed with which this
cluster of storms struck.
Photos
taken in the wake of the Washington tornado show entirely demolished
neighborhoods with houses turned to matchsticks and cars stuck in
limbless trees.
Gone: A homeowner moves debris next to a set of stairs that once lead to the second floor of his home in Washington
Terrified: Residents embrace after they discovered their home was destroyed when a tornado and thunderstorms tore through a portion of Washington, Illinois
Surveying the damage: A news cameraman shoots video of the rubble of an auto parts store destroyed by a tornado in Washington, Illinois
Confusion: Friends and neighbors comb the rubble of Curt Zehr's home just outside Washington, Ill. His family took refuge in the basement and all were saved
Not just homes: A Tippecanoe County, Indian,a middle school lay in ruins after one of the 60 tornadoes blew through the area near Lafayette just before 3pm Sunday
DEVASTATION ACROSS THE MIDWEST: ILLINOIS TO INDIANA AND BEYOND
ILLINOIS
Shell-shocked: Pat Whitaker, 82, sits under a blanket in her nightgown outside what was once her home waiting for help to come in Gifford, Illinois, a town of fewer than 1000 people about 90 miles from Washington, Illinois
Intense thunderstorms and tornadoes ripped off roofs and sent trees toppling in several communities across the state.
At least six people were killed, including, an elderly man and his sister who died when a tornado struck their farmhouse in rural New Minden in southern Illinois, officials said.
One is the worst-hit areas was the western Illinois town of Washington, where the storm flattened houses and sent cars flying through the air.
As high winds slammed into the Chicago area, officials at Soldier Field evacuated the stands and order the Bears and Ravens off the field. Fans were allowed back to their seats shortly after 2 p.m., and the game resumed after about a two-hour delay.
INDIANA
Severe thunderstorms packing tornadoes
and heavy winds rolled across Indiana Sunday afternoon and evening,
injuring several people and causing widespread damage.
Gov.
Mike Pence said 12 counties reported either tornadoes or storm damage
after the initial line of storms had traveled midway across Indiana.
Kokomo police asked residents to stay home and off the streets after city officials declared a state of emergency in the wake of severe storms. The city police department posted photos on its Twitter account showing buildings with roofs torn off and a destroyed bank branch.
OHIO
Heavy winds from storms rolling through Ohio caused damage to buildings and have left thousands without power. More than 38,000 customers are without power across northwest Ohio due to the storm.
Widespread: A car sits halfway in a basement at a leveled home near Home Avenue and Hoffer Street in Kokomo, Indiana. In the string of 60 storms, devastation hailed down in towns across hundreds, perhaps thousands of miles in the Midwest
WISCONSIN
Strong winds knocked out power to thousands in the Milwaukee area, damaged buildings and downed trees in Dodge County and sent Sunday churchgoers scrambling into church basements for safety. In the town of Hustisford, cattle sheds, garages and storage sheds were damaged, said Dodge County Emergency Management Director Joseph Meagher said. No injuries were immediately reported, he said.
MICHIGAN
High winds and rain slammed into the western part of the state. There are no immediate reports of injuries, but utilities reported tens of thousands of power outages. Churches in western Michigan canceled evening worship services.
KENTUCKY
Tornadoes were spotted in at least eight Kentucky counties and at least one home had its roof blown off, a spokesman for the Kentucky Emergency Management said. Buddy Rogers said it was unclear how many of those tornadoes actually touched down. He said a home in Rochester in Butler County had its roof blown off and there were reports of damages to homes and other structures in the various counties, but no reports of injuries.
MISSOURI
Severe storms slammed the eastern part of Missouri, leaving tens of thousands without power and destroying a mobile home. The National Weather Service said the storm tore shingles off of roofs and uprooted trees across parts of St. Louis and St. Louis County. Ameren Missouri reported more than 37,000 outages Sunday afternoon, mostly in the St. Louis area.
Residents walk the debris-strewn streets, likely with no clue where to begin to put the pieces of their shattered lives back together.
But Washington wasn't the only affected town in the now shell-shocked Midwest.
Tony Laubach watched another tornado touch down in Lebanon, Indiana--a town nearly 200 miles to the east of Washington.
'These storms having been moving so fast today, it's been hard to keep up,' said Laubach, who is a storm chaser.
Around
50 tornadoes were reported up until 4pm today as part of a severe,
unpredictable and unusually late in the season storm system. The number
grew to 60 within two hours but some say the figure was closer to 80.
At one point the city of Chicago was threatened, leading to the temporary suspension of a Bears-Ravens football game. Spectators were evacuated from the stadium seats to shelters under the concourse.
Pulled from the wreckage: Rescuers pull an injured resident from a demolished house
Devastation: Richard Miller salvages items from his brothers home, after the tornado ripped through the Washington neighborhood
Field of damage: Entire neighborhoods in Washington have been destroyed and acres of land are strewn with debris
Dangerous: A picture on Instagram shows a tornado charging through Washington, Illinois, yesterday
Salvage: Residents survey the damage caused the deadly tornadoes and storms in Washington
'Attention:
Please clear the stadium seating area and relocate to the nearest
covered concourse. Please remain calm and leave the seating area in an
orderly fashion,' a message on one of Soldier Field's jumbotrons read. The game resumed after a two-hour delay.
The
tornado warning for Cook County, Illinois has been dropped but now
Indiana and Kentucky are on high alert. In Illinois flights are still
grounded at Chicago's O'Hare and Midway Airports and approximately
83,000 are without power in the area.
The community of Washington in
central Illinois appeared particularly hard-hit, with one resident
saying his neighborhood was wiped out in a matter of seconds.
Michael Perdun said: 'I stepped outside and I heard it coming. My daughter was already in the basement, so I ran downstairs and grabbed her, crouched in the laundry room and all of a sudden I could see daylight up the stairway and my house was gone.
'The whole neighborhood's gone, (and) the wall of my fireplace is all that is left of my house.'
Illinois State Police Trooper Dustin Pierce said the tornado cut a path from one end of town to the other, knocking down power lines, rupturing gas lines and ripping off roofs.
Together: A couple walks along a devastated street in the Devonshire subdivision of Washington where trees have been stripped bare
Devastation: Billy Vestal and his 3-year-old daughter Lillian evacuate an area near their home in East Peoria, Illinois after a tornado touched down there Sunday afternoon
Rare: The home-destroying twister was the product of some unusually late and powerful November storms
Taking it in: Firefighters stand in the middle of Devonshire street on the north side of Washington, Illinois - with a mostly blue-sky above
Squashed: A mattress is wrapped around a tree on Devonshire Street in Washington, Illinois on Sunday following the storm. Destroyed cars and homes made into matchsticks littered the town southwest of Chicago
Shattered: The intense toll on homes and other property continued to be assessed by the dumbstruck residents of Washington, Illinois
Shadow of the storm: Dozens of tornadoes and strong winds left behind a path of destruction yesterday
Picking up the pieces: John Ramsey helps recover items from a family friend's destroyed home in Pekin, Illinois
Rescue: Aimee Royer holds a Toto-look-alike dog she rescued from the debris after a tornado touched down in her subdivision in Washington, Illinois
Evacuate: Fans are asked to leave the stadium during the Bears-Ravens game in Chicago which was 'temporarily suspended'
Game over: Baltimore Ravens players walk off Soldier Field in Chicago after their game against the Bears was temporarily suspended following tornado warnings
'I went over there immediately after the tornado, walking through the neighborhoods, and I couldn't even tell what street I was on,' Washington Alderman Tyler Gee told WLS-TV.
'Just completely flattened - some of the neighborhoods here in town, hundreds of homes.'
In addition, WLS-TV reported that a local grocery store kept customers and workers safe from harm in a freezer during the worst of the storm, a Washington alderman told Chicago's WBBM Radio that there were 'quite a few people hurt' but didn't offer details. The damage, he said, was extensive.
After the twister, Alderman Gee went
door-to-door, yelling in windows, trying to see if anyone needed help
and at one house he heard banging on a wall.
'I
had to climb in through the window. The front door was blocked shut. I
climbed in and there was debris up against the bathroom door that she
was in...I had to get the debris out to open the door,' he told WBBM.
But Gee soon found himself in the path of the storm. He quickly moved locations, which ended up being a 'very, very good decision'.
Uprooted: The winds were so strong in Pekin, Illinois today that this tree completely detached from its strong roots
'It went right through where I was sitting in my pickup truck. It was unbelievable.
'All I can ask for is a bunch of prayers from everybody...we're going to need them,' Alderman Gee said.
Washington residents Curt Zehr said the tornado turned his farmhouse into a mass of rubble scattered over hundreds of yards.
His truck was sent flying and landed on an uprooted tree.
'They
heard the siren... and saw (the tornado) right there and got into the
basement,' he said of his wife and adult son who were home at the time.
Then, seconds later, when they looked out from their hiding place the house was gone and 'the sun was out and right on top of them.'
There have also been reports of looting in Washington, state troopers said.
Torn up: Chuck Phillips looks out at the damage inflicted by a tornado on his Pekin, Illinois neighborhood
Ripped out of the walls: Pink insulation litters a yard in Pekin showing just how extensive the damage was
At OSF Saint Francis Medical Center in Peoria, spokeswoman Amy Paul said 37 patients had been treated, eight with injuries ranging from broken bones to head injuries.
Another hospital, Methodist Medical Center in Peoria, treated more than a dozen, but officials there said none of them were seriously injured.
Anthony Khoury captured the storm
ripping through his neighborhood in Washington. The 21-year-old was with
his family when he thought he heard a helicopter over the house.
The noise turned out to be the massive tornado, which caused everyone inside the panic.
Touchdown: Around 50 tornadoes touched down in the region today before 4pm, represented by the purple icons in the map above
'The tornado happened in my backyard and you can hear people screaming,' he told CNN. 'We were freaking out.'
The
'man of faith' started praying, and his Our Fathers and Hail Marys are
clearly audible in his video of the terrifying moment.
After
the tornado passed, his family went outside to discover that their home
had been completely spared in the tornado's wrath - but some neighbors
were not so lucky.
'It was complete destruction. There are people in the streets crying,' he said. 'We're so blessed that our street was untouched. You drive out of my street and all this destruction is there. A mile away it is all destroyed.'
Patti
Thompson of the Illinois Department of Emergency Management said it was
difficult to get information from the scene in the aftermath of yesterday's storms.
The tornado emerged out of a large weather system bringing thunderstorms to parts of Indiana, Ohio, Michigan and Kentucky, the weather service said.
As the storm system moved east, the National Weather Service issued tornado warnings for several counties in Indiana.
A tornado was confirmed near Covington, Indiana at around 2:30pm. The tornado was moving at 75mph and the storm was producing pea-sized hail.
Tornado damage was also reported in northern Vermillion County, Indiana, near Interstate 74 and State Route 63.
Officials at Soldier Field evacuated the stands and ordered the Bears and Baltimore Ravens off the field.
Fans were allowed back to their seats shortly after 2pm, and the game resumed after about a two-hour delay.
Earlier, the Office of Emergency Management and Communications had issued a warning to fans, urging them 'to take extra precautions and... appropriate measures to ensure their personal safety.'
Twister: Neighbors in Pekin, Illinois - just south of Peoria - survey the damage to their street shortly after a tornado touched down in the area
Ripped from the ground: An overturned tree threatens the roofs of two houses in Pekin, Illinois
Ominous: The sky is still darkened by the storm system which whipped up a tornado near Pekin, Illinois
Moving east: The above maps shows the storm system moving through Illinois which produced the tornado near Peoria around noon today
Meteorologists are not clear how many tornadoes struck yesterday. There were about 80 twister reports, but Bill Bunting of the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla., said the actual number will likely be in the 30 to 40 range.
He said that's because the same tornado often gets reported multiple times.
People were warned yesterday to prepare early as the storms moved too fast for people to wait to seek safety.
'This is a very dangerous situation,' said Russell Schneider, director of the Storm Prediction Center. Some 53million people in 10 states were 'at significant risk for thunderstorms and tornadoes,' he said.
Split: Firefighters in Webster Groves, Missouri climb over a tree that fell on a house. The residents were at home the time the tree crashed but were not injured
Tornado watch: Severe thunderstorms are expected today in the yellow region highlighted in yellow. The thunderstorms will be so severe that they could lead to tornadoes around Indiana and Illinois
Gone: Neighbors step out to assess the damage on their street in Washington, Illinois
Wiped out: Cars are all that remain in this Washington, Illinois neighborhood after the tornado
The aftermath: Homes were torn apart after a tornado passed through Washington, Illinois - just a few hours southwest of Chicago
The White House issued a statement saying President Barack Obama had been briefed about the damage and was in touch with federal, state and local officials.
Such severe weather this late in the season also carries the risk of surprise.
'People can fall into complacency because they don't see severe weather and tornadoes, but we do stress that they should keep a vigilant eye on the weather and have a means to hear a tornado warning because things can change very quickly,' said Matt Friedlein, a weather service meteorologist.
The storm also slammed through parts of Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Kentucky as it made its way east into the mid-Atlantic states on Sunday night. Tornadoes, large hail and damaging winds tore through several communities, leaving thousands without power as emergency crews tried to clear roads.
-
WATCH: Topless Kim Kardashian straddles Kanye in Bound 2...
-
GRAPHIC: Russian man nails testicles to Red Square in...
-
Awkward! Family Feud contestant's gaffe
-
Ditched boyfriend, 62, presents bill to ex for $200K after...
-
The legendary footage of JFK's assasination remembered
-
LISTEN: The Obamas' reception at college game
-
VIDEO: Naked 'goddess' woman on Chicago train
-
Navy ship makes high speed left turn
-
Obama flubs: Affordable Care Act has enrolled '100 million'
-
Cute little girl is unimpressed by surprise trip to...
-
Japanese woman ties meat to herself to race Komodo Dragon
-
White supremacist learns he's 14% black
-
Grieving Belgian woman sleeps next to the grisly remains of...
-
Beautiful but heart-breaking pictures of terminally ill and...
-
Dog-tired: Mom photographs her toddler Beau and his 'puppy...
-
‘Mum thinks I’m a pillock’: Teenager went...
-
'I felt as though my heart was leaving my body': Terribly...
-
'The Woman in the Blue Raincoat' who took famous Polaroid of...
-
Revealed: Brittany Murphy 'was poisoned by government spooks...
-
EXCLUSIVE: Best friend, business partner and suspect: Man...
-
Son 'brutally stabs Virginia state senator father before...
-
Mother made famous overnight after posting adorable pictures...
-
EXCLUSIVE: 'They were very, very fearful of so many things':...
-
What would the world's greatest music legends have looked...
Comments (529)
Share what you think
The comments below have not been moderated.
How dare you..you British argue illogically. You insult people in times of strife , you use outrageous stereotypes and insults, and you tot around the idea that you have superior knowledge to us. And then you have the audacity to criticize me for sounding ignorant? You don't know what you're talking about. Do not treat news of great sadness with a criticism of the countries citizens and their ways of life. You do not understand how terrifying and monstrous tornadoes are. All I did was defend my country from unjust hate in a time of grief. Yet the Brits still find a reason to justify their nasty, mean comments. Please, stop.
I'm astonished that the comments saying better houses need to be built are getting so many red arrows - better houses do need to be built in these areas. Having a go at people for pointing out what is obvious won't get anyone anywhere - action needs to be taken. Structures need to be built that are tied to the ground and do not separate into their component parts. This will reduce the debris that flies around and does so much of the damage. In tornado season there needs to be a ban on parking vehicles outside. In towns underground car parks can be built that can be closed. Trees need to be pruned and maybe even removed altogether from built up areas. Shutters for windows. Etc, etc... There is always going to be damage from a tornado, but measures can be taken to reduce that damage. The houses that are currently put in the path of tornadoes are inadequate and any anger people feel needs to be directed at the builders and at the regulators and planners that allow them to be built.
"Ignorant" is a word the Brits constantly throw around, not realizing that they fit the definition of ignorant more accurately than most Americans. How dare you display your anti-american isms in a moment of destruction and terrible losses. This is one of the many reasons why I do not like the UK. And the sad thing is, there are so many Anglophiles in out country. If only they could see the treatment our beautiful country and it's citizens get for simply being American. It's despicable. Grow up. (Ignore my last comment please. Something weird happened with the typing.)
"Ignorant" is a word the Brits constantly throw around, not realizing that they fit the definition of ignorant more accurately than most Americans. How dare you display your anti-american isms in a moment of destruction and terrible losses. This is one of the many reasons why I do not like the UK. And the sad thing is, there are so many Anglophiles in out country. If only they could see the treatment our beautiful co"Ignorant" is a word the Brits constantly throw around, not realizing that they fit the definition of ignorant more accurately than most Americans. How dare you display your anti-american isms in a moment of destruction and terrible losses. This is one of the many reasons why I do not like the UK. And the sad thing is, there are so many Anglophiles in out country. If only they could see the treatment our beautiful country and it's citizens get for simply being American. It's despicable. Grow up.
PLEASE, PLEASE, Someone come up with some kind of construction to STOP this awful damage which keeps on happening time after time, year after year....things aren't going to improve, the country is soo FLAT/OPEN/VULNERABLE....in these areas , it makes no logical sense to rebuild in wood / brick / breeze-bloc...............even if it means some kind of solid bunker/dwelling, at least this carnage would stop and families would feel SAFE.
Properly built buildings will withstand even the severest hurricane. We have now new building regs in place, and all new builds are designed and built to take a gr. 5 hurricane. Brick buildings are fine if done properly. Hurricane Ivan showed that.
Look up pictures of the St. Louis 1896 Tornado and you will see how dangerous brick buildings can be in a tornado. Not only will the buildings get pushed over like sand castles, but then you have tons of brick falling into basements where people have taken shelter. Then, the bricks become missiles causing even more damage. Some of the most damaging tornadoes in US history have occurred within cities made of brick.
The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline.
We are no longer accepting comments on this article.
chantelly, Manchester, United Kingdom, 7 hours ago
What an awful set of photos, so depressing so sad......people want better built houses in America, but don't we all? It is probably down to economics that is the reason for such "flimsy builds" in the states, particularly for poorer states. Even so, I don't think much is gonna change, because I have read a book that demonstrates and explains (although its a hard read) that the world is going to implode in different countries at different times, and lo and behold that is exactly what is happening!!! It is indeed linked to climate change as David Cameron believes, and climate change is OUR fault!!!! Not nice to think that but its true, so we are increasingly "killing ourselves" without even realising it!!!!! Wood houses, brick houses, concrete houses, makes no odds the earth is spinning off its axis!!!!!