Chicago weather: NWS to investigate reported tornado touchdowns in northern, western suburbs

GENEVA (WLS) — National Weather Service crews will investigate reported tornado touchdowns from storms Tuesday night.

ABC7 Accuweather Tracy Butler said there could be several tornado touchdowns from the storms, which also brought hail up to two inches in diameter and very strong winds.

At Essex Court and Pepper Valley Drive in Geneva, some neighbors think a tornado came through and others believe it may be the work of a microburst.

The storm ripped trees apart and caused serious damage to homes.

Fire officials said they got a report of a tornado touchdown in Geneva area near Kaneville just east of Randall Road, but that has yet to be confirmed.

Several homeowners are dealing with damage to their homes and their property, with trees cracked and uprooted.

“When we got in this neighborhood, over looks like three of four blocks, narrow path, we have some significant damage to some of the homes,” Geneva Fire Chief Michael Antenore said. “Broken windows, downed trees, some doors blown off interior…lot of uprooted large trees in the front yards and back yards.

“We lost several windows, the one, the frame is pushed into the house, but it could have been a lot worse,” Geneva resident Rebecca Harrington said.

Some of the scenes from the area showed a trampoline nearly wrapped around a tree and a trailer that nearly flipped on its side.

Fire officials said they did an initial damage assessment Tuesday night and plan to return Wednesday morning and take full inventory and map all of the damage.

Other possible tornadoes and funnel clouds were reported in Kane County near Sugar Grove, in DeKalb County, in Lee County near Paw Paw and in Hoffman Estates in Illinois as well as in East Chicago, Indiana.

There was also a reported funnel cloud around Hoffman Estates. Around that time, one mother and daughter were huddled in their first-floor bathroom.

“All of a sudden, the wind picked up. We heard things hitting the roof, hitting the windows. We were downstairs. The sirens were already going off,” said Nancy Kramp.

“I could just hear things hitting the window, and I told her, ‘I think this is a tornado.’ And she said, ‘No, we’re fine.’ And I was like, ‘No, I really think this is a tornado coming through,'” said Lauryn Kramp.

The storm knocking down trees and downed power poles in the High Point subdivision, leaving several blocks in the dark. Some homes sustained siding and other damage.

“Our fence was down. We’ve got people’s roof pieces and siding all over the yard,” Nancy said.

In north suburban Mundelein, the storm damaged the apartment building in the Washington Court neighborhood.

Some residents had no idea the storm was coming and others said they heard loud noises and quickly realized severe weather was coming their way.

Longtime resident Paul Kanta lives in the area.

“I guess it was 7:30 and I heard some noise, the wind, the rain, tornado coming,” Kanta said.. Then I heard all the noise coming from the back and all the people are out, the cops…I was going through all the rooms trying to hide in a place where there’s no windows. I thought it was a bomb or a roof coming off.”

Other people described it like the sound of a freight train coming through.

At least 20 apartments are uninhabitable, the American Red Cross, who is assisting those displaced, said

At this point, it’s not clear how much damaged was caused or if anyone was injured.