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Officials search tornado-damaged areas after strong storms hit Illinois and Indiana

  • By DAVE COLLINS and HALLIE GOLDEN - Associated Press

Authorities and residents are assessing damage after storms hit areas south of Chicago. Around 380,000 customers in Illinois and Indiana were without power and air travel was disrupted by Thursday's severe weather. There were no immediate reports early Friday of deaths or life-threatening injuries from those storms. Tornado damage was reported in Merrillville and Hebron, Indiana, as well as in Streator, Illinois. Emergency crews were inspecting damage and assisting displaced residents. The storms also delayed flights in cities like Chicago, Philadelphia, and New York. Severe weather earlier in the week caused one death in Des Moines, Iowa.

Tornadoes pummel communities outside Chicago, tearing up homes and toppling power poles
National
AP Wire

Tornadoes pummel communities outside Chicago, tearing up homes and toppling power poles

  • By DAVE COLLINS and HALLIE GOLDEN - Associated Press
  • Updated

At least three tornadoes have battered communities outside Chicago, leveling homes and ripping down trees and power poles. Storms have also grounded flights and knocked out power for hundreds of thousands across the Midwest and Northeast on Thursday. The large column of air swept through Merrillville, Indiana, a town about 33 miles southeast of Chicago. Meanwhile, the nearby manufacturing and farm city of Streator, Illinois, has set up a family reunification center for displaced residents in its city hall as officials took stock of the major damage. The National Weather Service says tornado warnings were also in place in Chicago and in parts of Indiana and Michigan.