CHICAGO (AP) 鈥 A 香港六合彩挂牌资料 Weather Service team will survey damage Thursday in northeast Illinois, where fierce winds from suspected tornadoes ripped roofs from buildings, downed trees and sent residents scrambling for safety as sirens sounded.
The weather service warned Wednesday evening that a confirmed tornado was on the ground near Chicago鈥檚 O鈥橦are International Airport. Passengers took shelter and the storm disrupted hundreds of flights, but there were no immediate reports of injuries. A short time later, the weather service said the Chicago forecast area was 鈥渃urrently tornado warning free.鈥 The storm moved into Michigan before passing through the state and into Canada early Thursday. Tornado watches that were in effect for parts of Michigan, Indiana and Ohio all expired.
Ty Carr, a resident of the Skyline Motel in McCook, Illinois, said a tornado tore off the roof.
鈥淛ust chaos,鈥 Carr said, cradling a toddler as he spoke to reporters. 鈥淚t was really fast, and the noises and the crackling and the wind -- it was just something I鈥檝e never seen or been through, you know?鈥
Rajan Patel, whose family owns the motel, said his family came to the Chicago area in the 1990s with nothing, and now their motel is severely damaged.
鈥淭he entire place is ruined," Patel said. "I don鈥檛 know, man. I don鈥檛 know how to recover anything. I don鈥檛 know.鈥
The weather service posted a on social media highlighting several areas where tornadoes are suspected to have touched down, noting that they were spawned by rotating thunderstorms known as supercells. A team will survey damage Thursday to determine an official count of the tornadoes, their tracks and intensity ratings.
Hillary Timpe in Countryside, Ill., a suburb southwest of Chicago, who was with her husband, Greg Timpe, said a tornado damaged homes in the neighborhood, but luckily no one was hurt. It also ripped their 100-year-old tree out of the ground.
鈥淲hen the winds kicked up really hard, really fast, and I鈥檓 like, 鈥楤asement 鈥 now! Grab the dog, let鈥檚 go!鈥 And it wasn鈥檛 more than a couple seconds after that, that got really crazy.鈥
The storm moved through quickly, Greg Timpe said.
鈥淚t really left as quick as it came," he said. "It was maybe 10, 20 seconds, and it was out of here, and all this.鈥
Video from TV stations showed hundreds of . Some 173 flights departing the airport were canceled and more than 500 were delayed, according to the flight tracking service FlightAware.
Kevin Bargnes, director of communications for O鈥橦are and Chicago Midway International Airport, WGN-TV Wednesday night that no damage was reported at either airport.
Lynn Becker, a longtime Chicago resident, posted to Twitter with tornado sirens blaring across the city鈥檚 iconic skyline.
鈥淚鈥檓 in a 60 story apartment building so my options are somewhat limited,鈥 he said. 鈥淲e have to, I assume, go into the core of the building.鈥
The weather service quoted an unidentified emergency manager as saying a roof was blown off in the community of Huntley in McHenry County northwest of Chicago. Huntley Battalion Chief Mike Pierce ABC-7-TV that firefighters and other emergency services were responding to downed power lines, trees and tree branches, and that power outages had been reported. Building damage appeared to be concentrated around two apartment buildings, he said.
More than 10,000 customers lost power in the region, but power was mostly restored by Thursday morning, according to .
Over the years many tornadoes have struck in the Chicago metropolitan area, and several have hit within the city limits of Chicago, according to the 香港六合彩挂牌资料 Weather Service. Between 1855 and 2021, the weather service recorded 97 significant tornadoes in the Chicago metro area.
The deadliest formed in Palos Hills in Cook County on April 21, 1967. The twister traveled 16 miles (26 kilometers) through Oak Lawn and the south side of Chicago, killing 33 people, injuring 500 and causing more than $50 million in damage, according to the weather service.
