Illinois Tornado Outbreak: Kankakee County Begins Recovery After Dual Tornadoes and Record-Breaking Hail, Multiple Injuries Reported

Severe weather, believed to be caused by tornadoes, wreaked havoc across Kankakee County in Illinois and Indiana on Tuesday, resulting in significant destruction.

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The powerful supercell is thought to have produced at least four tornadoes, touching down in locations including Pontiac and south of Kankakee in Illinois, as well as Lake Village and Wheatfield in Indiana.

Authorities in Kankakee County reported that the storms resulted in injuries to nine individuals, though fortunately, no fatalities were recorded in that area.

Tragically, in Indiana, the severe weather claimed the lives of two people in Lake Village.

Due to the extensive damage, Kankakee Community College has announced it will remain closed for the rest of the week.

In response to the disaster, the Red Cross has set up an emergency shelter on the Riverfront Campus to assist those affected.

Bishop McNamara Catholic School in Kankakee was badly damaged.

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

Chicago’s Anti-Cruelty Downtown Adoption Center at 510 N. LaSalle Dr. 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.

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, 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.

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 and 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 stones reported south, west suburbs; neighbors dealing costly damages

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

The National Weather Service said the largest hailstone produced was six 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, but it also caused damage.

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,” Bradley Parks with Pro Restoration said.

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.

The company sharing numbers show that in 2024 Illinois customers reported $638 million dollars 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 survey damage as early tornado warning likely saved lives

ABC7’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,” Chicago National Weather Service David King said.

The teams use an air cannon at common building supply to see what speeds to what damage.

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,” Jeremy Smith with ComEd said.

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.

Governor 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.