Chicago Area Local News

CHICAGO (CBS) ― Unseasonable January weather left widespread devastation across Northern Illinois and Southern Wisconsin.

A number of damaging tornadoes touched down Monday evening in the tiny town of Poplar Grove, in Boone County, Ill., in Harvard, in McHenry County; and across the state line in Kenosha County, Wis.

CBS 2's Dorothy Tucker reports people in hard hit Wheatland, Wisconsin spent Tuesday assessing the damage after a tornado bounced through three or four subdivisions.

"How do you describe it? What do you say, one minute it's here and the next minute it's gone," Ed Borre said.

Almost everything in Borre's home was gone, including the walls. Relatives and friends picked through the debris trying to salvage what they could.

"I worked my whole life to get all that stuff. Now it's all gone, broke," Jason Hammock said.

Monday's tornado wiped out at least 25 homes and left another 30 damaged.

Fortunately, no one was seriously hurt. Residents give credit to town officials who set off sirens prompting residents like Alex Rupp to take cover in his basement.

"I just ran downstairs and within five minutes, the lights went out and it sounded like a train hit the house," Rupp said.

It looked like a train barreled through a good portion of the town, turning over trucks and cars and sucking so much insulation out of the houses that from a distance some of the trees looked as if they were in full bloom.

Homeowners fortunate enough to still have a structure spent the day boarding up windows, covering rooftops. They had lots of help from friends and neighbors.

"I had to be hear because she's an employees of mine and she's a very good friend of mine," Jennifer Collison said.

While much was lost, every now and then, something special was found.

"We're finding little things here and there. I found a lot of my photo albums still perfect. So there's some hope, a lot of hope left," Jodi Beam said.

As of Tuesday at 6pm, crews were working to restore electricity and gas service.

Officials are trying to assess the total damages. They're asking all the victims of the tornado to call this hotline: 262-605-7926 to report their losses.


In northern Illinois, homeowners and emergency workers also cleaned up damaged property, after the rare January tornado cut a 13-mile path through houses, a dairy farm and an apple orchard that catered to tourists.

At least three homes were leveled in Boone County, where four people were hurt, including one woman who was in critical condition with head injuries at a Rockford hospital. A veterinarian was called to stitch up the wounds of dairy cows.

CBS 2's Mike Puccinelli reports people forced to evacuate McHenry County were able to return Tuesday. A convoy of more than 70 cars was escorted back to Lawrence. They were forced out of town Monday night night after tornadoes derailed a train carrying hazardous material.

"The chemical that was on the rail car that derailed was ethylene oxide which is extremely hazardous to health," McHenry County Sheriff's Sgt. James Wagner said.

No one was injured by the derailment, but Nathan Niles was among the 100 to 200 residents evacuated. He spent Monday night in a hotel.

"All we had was the clothes on our back. We had to go to Wal-mart to buy some," Niles said.

So residents were elated when they were allowed to go back home Tuesday despite widespread damage.

"It totaled two of our vehicles in the driveway. Trees fell on them," Robert Naue said.

Benjamin Rock, a weather service spotter who watched the storm as it roared into town, was also out Tuesday surveying the damage.

"At that moment I'm sitting there thinking this probably isn't a safe spot to be," Rock said.

He estimates the winds were between 80 and 100 miles an hour. Jose Lopez doesn't know wind speed but he does know terror.

"I'm just lucky to be alive," Lopez said.

Most of his fence didn't make it. The storm snapped its four by four posts as if they were twigs. It was powerful enough to rip it out of the ground, concrete footing and all.

And Lopez got off easy. Sure his driveway is worse for the wear, and an unplanned awning will have to go, but his house is solid which is more than could be said for a neighbor who lost a roof.

The rain was expected to continue Tuesday in some areas. New heavy rainfall was forecast for the Kankakee, Vermilion and upper Illinois river basins. The weather service warned residents of low-lying areas along streams and rivers to be alert.

CBS 2's Dorothy Tucker in Wheatland, Wisconsin and Mike Puccinelli in McHenry County, Illinois and the Associated Press contributed to this report.


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