An Illinois man was pulled alive from tornado wreckage after a deadly round of Midwest storms that killed at least one person and threatened to keep battering the region through the weekend.
Disturbing video showed the rescue of 65-year-old Gary Rymek, who was found beneath a huge mound of debris after a twister tore through his home in Streator, roughly two hours from Chicago, on Friday.
As rescuers worked to reach him, Rymek could be heard saying: “I think I’ve got a broken leg.”
Rymek was among millions affected by the severe weather outbreak, which also claimed the life of a man in Des Moines, Iowa, after a tree fell on him.
By Saturday, more than 80,000 customers in the Chicago area and northwest Indiana were still without electricity, while about 200 homes were destroyed by powerful winds.
Meteorologists warned that dangerous thunderstorms were expected to persist across the Midwest into the weekend, raising the risk of additional tornadoes and torrential rain.
The National Weather Service said four tornadoes, including two EF-3’s in Streator, Illinois, and Kouts, Indiana, rocked the area.
Those twisters brought windspeeds of up to 165mph, and other tornadoes were confirmed in Bartlett, Illinois, and over near Dwight, Illinois.
Gary Rymek, 65, was rescued from a pile of rubble after a tornado hit his home in Streator, Illinois, on Friday
It comes as deadly storms have surged across the Midwest, leaving at least one dead and millions of Americans under severe weather warnings. Pictured: A large tornado moves through Livingston County, Illinois on Thursday
A massive tree was uprooted outside of Andrean High School in Merrillville, Indiana, after a tornado struck
Rymek’s wife Roxann Rymek, was also injured as she tried to help her husband.
Thankfully, Scott Lasker, a freelance photographer and storm chaser, was in the area and jumped in to help the injured couple.
‘I was able to get [the debris] off of half of his body to give him a little bit of comfort until the police showed up with a couple of guys that were able to slide him out,’ Lasker told Western Mass News.
Rymek’s ankle was left broken from the disaster, but he is grateful that he and his wife made it out alive.
‘The door flew out of my hand, and then everything just started falling apart,’ he recalled to the outlet. ‘I’m just very thankful I’m alive, that we are. Cause of what, what we went through, what we’ve seen. We thought during the time that it was not, we weren’t going to make it.’
While the tornado ravaged the Rymeks’ house, their daughter, Jillian Wokurka, was left in a panic for about 45 minutes after being unable to get in contact with her parents, she said on a GoFundMe page.
Just before the twister struck, Wokurka said her mother sent her a video of it and called ‘screaming and crying’.
Their daughter said that the couple lost everything in the tornado, including their home, three cars, their medications, and their Continuous Positive Air Pressure (CPAP) machines.
She also said her father, who already suffers from shoulder pain and severe arthritis, is scheduled to get surgery on his ankle on Tuesday.
The fundraiser page is collecting donations to help them get back on their feet. As of Saturday afternoon, nearly $8,000 had been raised.
Thee couple’s daughter said that the couple lost everything in the tornado, including their home, three cars, their medications, and their Continuous Positive Air Pressure (CPAP) machines
Roxann Rymek tried to help her husband, but she was left bloodied and injured from the disaster
Meanwhile large swathes of the country are experiencing soaring temperatures and humidity, including Florida, New York, and New Jersey.
Potentially dangerous heat and high humidity arrived Thursday and was expected to continue for a swath of the East Coast from the mid-Atlantic to the Northeast.
Temperatures in the mid-90s Fahrenheit (mid-30s Celsius) were expected, but with the humidity it could feel like 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius) or more, according to the weather service.
Meteorologist Frank Pereira said the system that produced the storms, including high winds and hail, moved eastwards Thursday, fueled by cool air from Canada clashing with warm, humid air from the South.
Temperatures are expected to dip to the 40s on Saturday night across much of the Midwest, according to the National Weather Service.
One person, an unidentified 54-year-old man, died in Iowa from the impact of the storms, CBS News reported.
He was at a homeless encampment when a tree ‘broke apart and fell during strong storms’ on Wednesday, police said, per the outlet.
The man was found critically injured the following morning and died at the scene, officials said.
Around 14 million people are under active weather alerts throughout the Plains and the Midwest, according to NBC News.
Streator, the farm and manufacturing city that the Rymeks live in, was severely impacted by the storms, but no deaths were reported, said Streator Mayor Tara Bedie.
Around 14 million people are under active weather alerts throughout the Plains and the Midwest. (Pictured: Andrean High School damaged after it was hit by a twister on Saturday)
A pile of debris and tress fell on top of homes and cars in Steator, Illinois, after the stomrs came barreling through
‘We are incredibly grateful for the safety of our residents and the quick action of emergency personnel,’ Bedie shared.
The intense weather, which hit the region on Wednesday and Thursday, caused ground stops at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport and Midway International airports.
More than 1,000 flights going in and out of the Illinois city had been delayed or canceled, according to FlightAware data.
