Tornadoes rip through Illinois and Indiana, killing one in Iowa and cutting power to 380,000

What happened

On Thursday afternoon, a line of severe storms swept across the Midwest, spawning multiple tornadoes that tore through communities south of Chicago. The National Weather Service issued a tornado emergency (a rare alert for a large, destructive tornado on the ground) for areas near Peoria, Illinois, shortly after 5 p.m. local time. By evening, at least three tornadoes had struck Streator, Illinois; Merrillville, Indiana; and Hebron, Indiana, leveling homes and ripping roofs from buildings. Preliminary tallies from NOAA indicate 168 tornadoes touched down in the U.S. during May, underscoring a season of heightened activity.

Rescue in Streator

Storm chaser and video journalist Scott Lasker captured footage of the destruction in Streator when he heard a woman screaming for help. He ran to find her husband trapped beneath the debris of their leveled house. "I tried to lift a heavy door off the man's leg, and gave him a little comfort, and then the police showed up," Lasker told CBS News. Police eventually freed the victim, whose condition remained unknown early Friday but was described as bloodied with possible broken limbs. Streator Mayor Tara Bedei confirmed no deaths were reported within the city.

“We are incredibly grateful for the safety of our residents and the quick action of emergency personnel.”

Widespread disruptions

The storms left around 380,000 customers without electricity across Illinois and Indiana, with Cook County alone accounting for 144,000 outages. Flights were heavily impacted: air traffic controllers evacuated the tower at Chicago's Midway Airport, and more than 1,000 flights were grounded across the region, mostly in Pennsylvania, Illinois and New York. The MLB game between the White Sox and the Atlanta Braves in Chicago was postponed.

Illinois235,000

Indiana144,000

Illinois

235000 customers

Indiana

144000 customers

Data from the article text

Human toll and damage

One death was reported in Des Moines, Iowa, where a 54-year-old man was struck by a falling tree at a homeless encampment during severe storms on Wednesday. In Elkhart, Indiana, Jennifer Hall discovered a tree limb had pierced her rental home's roof; she used buckets to catch rainwater. "I'm just nervous because it's just been one thing after another," she said. In Unionville, Missouri, a mobile home was obliterated, but Shane Tipton rushed his 87-year-old father to safety. "Everything's destroyed. It was scattered clear for miles," his daughter Kylie Rouse told The Associated Press. Officials in Merrillville reported streets blocked by dozens of fallen trees and a section of a high school's roof torn off.

Response and aftermath

Emergency crews worked through the night to clear roads and search damaged areas. A reunification center was set up at Streator City Hall, and the Red Cross opened a shelter for displaced residents. The National Weather Service plans to survey the damage over the coming days to determine the exact number of tornadoes that touched down. Meanwhile, AccuWeather forecasts drenching thunderstorms for the eastern U.S. through the end of the week, keeping severe weather risks alive.