Illinois tornado outbreak: Kankakee County cleans up damage left by tornado, record-breaking hail; several injured

KANKAKEE COUNTY, Ill. (WLS) — Suspected tornadoes left extensive damage in Kankakee County in Illinois and Indiana on Tuesday.

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The National Weather Service said a supercell that went from Pontiac, Illinois to Indiana spawned at least two tornadoes in Aroma Park and near Wheatfield in Indiana.

NWS initially said there were four tornadoes, but continues to assess.

One tornado lasted nearly 90 minutes, starting at 6:18 pm. and ending around 7:39 p.m.

It tracked nearly 40 miles, starting near Aroma Park and ending near De Motte, Indiana.

The tornado that ripped through Aroma Park had 115 mile-per-hour winds, making it an EF-3, the National Weather Service said.

Kankakee County officials said nine people were injured by the storms, but no one was killed.

In Indiana, two people died in Lake Village.

There were many downed power lines and uprooted trees.

Kankakee Community College will be closed for the remainder of the week due to the damage.

The Red Cross is currently operating a shelter on the Riverfront Campus

Bishop McNamara Catholic School in Kankakee was badly damaged.

Pictures shows extensive damage to the gym and some classrooms. The school was closed Wednesday.

SEE ALSO | 2 killed as at least 2 suspected tornadoes leave trail of damage in Indiana, NWS says

Chicago’s Anti-Cruelty Downtown Adoption Center at 510 N. LaSalle Drive welcomed six dogs to help the Kankakee County Animal Control create space in their shelter.

The tornado did not directly impact the Kankakee County Animal Control facility.

The community has come together to build back up.

“It’s tornado country. I get that, but we’ve never been hit like this,” said Amanda Jolly, manager at the Fun Hub.

The Fun Hub is hoping now to be a hub of hope for the community.

Bags of clothes for children of all ages are filling a shed outside the local bar off Lowe Street.

Water, food and hygiene products cover the tables inside.

“A big thing has been donation drop-offs, but a bigger thing has been the community needing a hot meal, a place to regroup, a place to meet their neighbors and just see what everybody needs,” said Angelina Gear, an Aroma Park resident and volunteer.

Volunteers, local business and community organizations made sure food was ready for neighbors, first responders and crews working to clean up and bring some semblance of normal to very abnormal times.

“We’re doing everything we can to provide for the community here,” said Allie Brooks, vice president of Georgie’s Closet.

“We’re going to be here every single day and serve breakfast in the morning and help people until this town is back up on their feet,” Jolly said.

Volunteers are asking those who did not live there to avoid driving around the area and leave room for emergency and utility crews.

Donations of nursery-purified water, drinking water, cleaning supplies, towels, hygiene products and monetary donations are being accepted.

Family with children survives Aroma Park tornado ‘by seconds,’ left to clean up devastating damage

“I honestly didn’t think we were going to come back out. It was the scariest thing ever. The glass was bursting. You could hear everything rumbling above us,” Abigail Gerth said.

“We got a phone call saying that there was a tornado that had touched down, so we should go to the basement. And seconds later it hit,” Gerth said.

Above them, the roof ripped off. The walls caved in and were thrown into the front yard.

“I was just trying to find my son, just trying to get over,” Erin Boerschig said. “All I could think of was just get over him, so the glass didn’t hit him, but it was so loud.”

Boerschig said she went to put her car in her friend’s garage to protect it from the hail. A move she says may have saved her and her son’s lives.

“I can’t believe that we walked away. I mean, four adults, three kids, and four dogs. And I don’t think any of us even have a scratch on us. I don’t know,” Boerschig said. “I will never live somewhere again that doesn’t have a storm shelter or a basement. That’s the only thing. I mean, it saved our life.”

The cleanup begins but the people who live in the area say its better to deal with a big mess than mourn a life.

Jason Kent and his wife started cleaning up after braving tornado that tore through Aroma Park.

“As soon as I got down in the crawlspace, we heard like bombs going off,” Kent said. “It sounded like bombs. You heard like the hail, gumball sized hail, even bigger than that, and then you just heard all the cracking and crashing.”

Kim Green’s father owns a home that is one of the hardest hit on Norman Avenue. A good portion of the roof is gone.

“We could see the swirling in the sky,” Green said. “We were like ‘this is going to turn into something.’ After that the hail started.”

Record-breaking hail reported in south, west suburbs; neighbors dealing with costly damage

Reports of large-scale hail came pouring in from the western suburbs.

The National Weather Service said the largest hailstone produced was 6 inches in diameter, which fell in Kankakee. The NWS said the hailstone may be a state record for Illinois.

Golf-ball-size stones left behind a significant amount of damage, especially to vehicles in Darien.

“We had hail almost baseball size,” Don Jones said. “We have roofers coming out to look at the roof. I would tell you almost every house in this two-block area probably have roof damage.”

The record-sized hail covered people’s lawns.

Unsurprisingly, a steady stream of restoration companies were already doing the rounds early Wednesday afternoon.

“We’re helping the homeowners identify if they have any qualifying damage from the storm, educating homeowners on their insurance policies,” said Bradley Parks, with Pro Restoration.

While the home damage may not have been as visible to the naked eye, the car damage was.

A Toyota Camry was dropped off at the Darien’s Collision Center with the entire rear windshield smashed to bits.

Insurance claims related to hail damage have been increasing.

It’s part of the stated reason companies like State Farm dramatically increased rates for Illinois homeowners late last year.

SEE ALSO | State Farm defends Illinois home insurance price hike; Pritzker says its not justified

The company shared numbers that show that in 2024 Illinois customers reported $638 million in hail damage, ranking second only after Texas.

Some scientific studies say that as climate change accelerates, large-scale hailstones will become more frequent.

NWS surveys damage as early tornado warning likely saved lives

ABC7 Chicago’s Greg Dutra joined NWS teams to survey and investigate the damage left by tornadic activity.

NWS teams are looking to learn how long it was on the ground and other data to potentially save future lives.

“We can use that data and actually do a bit of research. So that if we see a similar set up in the forecast, we can have an idea of what can actually occur,” said David King, with the Chicago National Weather Service.

Power outages

At the height of the outage, thousands of customers lost electricity.

“We have about 400 ComEd crews currently working throughout the service territory, actively looking to see how we can deploy more resources and where the heaviest-hit areas were,” said Jeremy Smith, with ComEd.

The mayor of Kankakee said it will be several days before full power is restored.

Tuesday night, Kankakee County filed an emergency declaration with the state to get help.

The American Red Cross has set up a shelter at Kankakee Community College for those impacted by the storms.

Gov. JB Pritzker posted on social media, “I’ve been briefed on the storm and tornado damage in the Kankakee area. My administration including IEMA are in contact with local officials to offer our full support. Keeping in our thoughts all Illinoisans impacted by the severe weather – we’ll be here to help them recover.”

ABC7 meteorologists issued an AccuWeather Alert for Thursday night into Friday. The forecast calls for wind gusts up to 50 miles per hour.

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