Key takeaways:
- A 54-year-old man died in Des Moines after a tree fell during strong storms at a homeless encampment, police said.
- Streator, Illinois, reported heavy tornado damage but no deaths, according to Mayor Tara Bedei.
- More than 221,000 Illinois customers were without power Friday morning, while NBC News reported more than a half-million outages across seven states as of midnight.
Tornadoes and severe storms tore across the Midwest late Wednesday and Thursday, killing at least one person in Iowa, damaging homes and businesses across several states, snarling air travel and leaving hundreds of thousands of customers without power.
More than a dozen tornadoes were reported across Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin overnight, while CBS News meteorologist Nikki Nolan said about 11 cities in Illinois and Wisconsin had reported tornadoes by Thursday evening. The storms brought powerful winds, including gusts of 75 mph in Mason City, Illinois, and 70 mph in Morton and Washington, Illinois.
Streator, Illinois, about 100 miles southwest of Chicago, was among the hardest-hit communities. The National Weather Service said tornadoes had been confirmed in mostly rural areas southwest of Chicago, with many buildings reported damaged in Streator. Illinois State Police reported “heavy damage” after a tornado touched down in the city, NBC News reported.
Streator Mayor Tara Bedei said no deaths had been reported there. “We are incredibly grateful for the safety of our residents and the quick action of emergency personnel,” she said in a statement.
Residents described a fast-moving storm that gave them little time to react. “It sounded like a train was going through. It blew my front window out,” Streator resident Kathy Spitznagle told NBC News, saying she sheltered in her bathroom after receiving a tornado warning on her phone.
Storm chaser and video journalist Scott Lasker told CBS News Chicago he was in Streator during the outbreak when he heard a woman about 100 yards away screaming for help. He ran over and helped rescue her husband from rubble. Video filmed by a local journalist Thursday showed police pulling an injured man from the wreckage of a destroyed home as he complained of a possible broken leg.
Nearby, drone footage over Dwight, Illinois, showed the path of another tornado, with several homes partially or completely destroyed, NBC News reported.
In Iowa, police said a 54-year-old man died at a homeless encampment in a Des Moines park after a tree “broke apart and fell during strong storms.” Authorities said the man was found critically injured Thursday morning and died at the scene. No other deaths had been immediately reported.
Damage also stretched into Indiana. Police in Merrillville, about 33 miles southeast of Chicago, warned residents to take cover as a funnel cloud approached. By Thursday evening, videos on social media showed downed trees and power lines blocking streets, damaged homes, severe flooding on the town’s main road and part of a high school roof torn off. Hobart Fire Chief Enrique Lopez said crews found multiple homes damaged by fallen trees while responding to flooded roads and power outages.
The storms battered infrastructure across the region. More than 221,000 customers in Illinois were without power Friday morning, according to PowerOutage.us. NBC News reported that more than a half-million customers were without power across seven states as of midnight. Commonwealth Edison Co., which serves northern Illinois, said downed poles and wires caused outages and that it expected “80% restoration” by late Saturday.
Air travel was also disrupted. Severe weather forced ground stops at Chicago’s O’Hare International and Midway International airports on both Wednesday and Thursday. At Midway, air traffic controllers evacuated the tower during a tornado warning. More than 1,000 flights into and out of Chicago were delayed or canceled, according to FlightAware, and storms also delayed or halted flights in Philadelphia, New York City and Newark, New Jersey.
The National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center had upgraded the Chicago area to a level 4 out of 5 severe weather risk before the outbreak, meaning widespread severe storms were likely. CBS News Chicago reported it was the first such risk for the city since July 15, 2024, when the area saw a record 32 tornado touchdowns.
Survey crews were expected to assess damage across the region, a process officials said could take several days. The National Weather Service warned that more severe storms were possible Saturday across eastern Kansas, Missouri and western Illinois.
Farther east, dangerous heat and humidity arrived Thursday and were expected to continue Friday from the mid-Atlantic to the Northeast, where the weather service said daily high temperature records could be broken. Philadelphia declared a heat health emergency for Thursday and Friday, while New York City officials urged residents to drink water and find cool places to stay if they lacked air conditioning.
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