Tornadoes rip south suburbs
NO SERIOUS INJURIES | Homes damaged, thousands lose power
A far-reaching storm system that produced multiple tornadoes swept through Cook, Will and Lake Counties Saturday evening, downing power lines, damaging homes and shutting down part of I-57.
But by late Saturday night, only six injuries had been reported for a rare occurrence that caught many suburban towns by surprise. The storm caused significant property damage in Richton Park, Frankfort, University Park, Monee and Wilmington. As of 8 p.m., 29,000 ComEd customers were without power because of the storm. Of those, 25,000 were in Chicago's south suburbs.
(Scott Stewart/Sun-Times)
PHOTO GALLERY
Tornado damage
A large tornado touched down just southwest of Monee at 6:04 p.m., the National Weather Service reported. Five people were injured there. More twisters were reported as the storm system moved northeast through Livingston, Grundy and Will counties before passing through southeast Cook County shortly before 7 p.m., into Indiana.
Illinois State Police said one person was injured on Interstate 57. A section of the highway was shut down to allow authorities to clear trucks and vehicles that were damaged as the tornado passed over it. Some of the worst damage was in Richton Park, where Debbie Bulliner took shelter in the basement of her home as the storm shattered windows and damaged part of the kitchen upstairs.
"It felt like a freight train was coming in my house," Bulliner said. "I was praying to God the whole house wouldn't cave in."
In southern Will County, a tornado apparently touched down near Custer Park, damaging farm buildings but fortunately missing heavily populated residential areas, said Pat Barry, a spokesman for the Will County sheriff's department.
Joe Rodawold of Wilmington grabbed a video camera and filmed the twister as it passed along Old Chicago Road.
"I had the adrenaline shakes going," he said. "I had never seen a tornado before, and I hope I never see another one again in my life. But at the same time, it was amazing."
One twister passed through a beach on a private lake at the South Wilmington Sportsman Club.
"The beach was pretty loaded, but the lifeguard cleared out everything about an hour before it came," said Lindell Roberts, a member of the clubs board of directors. "We have a lot of trees down and power lines and stuff like that."
Kristina Smith, of Essex, said she was at the beach with her family about a half hour before the tornado touched down. After they got home, Smith said she saw a funnel cloud form and then head toward the sportsman club, downing trees and power lines as it went.
"It literally just came out of the clouds," said Smith. "We couldn't even believe it was a tornado."
As the south suburbs cleared debris, another tornado swept through Mundelein in Lake County around 8:05 p.m., although there were no reports of damage or injuries there.
More severe weather is expected today in northeastern Illinois, the weather service said.
Contributing: STNGwire, SouthtownStar, Joliet Herald-News, Post-Tribune
