Tornado hit along I-55 corridor from Burr Ridge to Stickney
LYONS, Ill. (CBS) -- Wednesday's storms left a trail of damage through multiple southwest suburban communities along the Interstate 55 corridor.
Thursday afternoon, the National Weather Service confirmed an EF-1 tornado, with maximum winds near 110 mph, hit along a path from Burr Ridge to Stickney, uprooting trees, and causing significant damage to several businesses.
Survey team has completed the ground survey of the Burr Ridge to Stickney tornado. Preliminary rating of EF-1 with max winds near 110 mph. In addition to numerous trees snapped and uprooted, several businesses saw significant damage. More to come later. #ilwx
— NWS Chicago (@NWSChicago) July 13, 2023
CBS 2's Jermont Terry was in southwest suburban Lyons on Wednesday night near McCook, along the tornado's path, where the storm ripped through, causing debris to fall and powerlines to be downed which started a fire near an industrial facility. Dozens of buildings in the area sustained damage.
Lyons Fire Chief Gordon Nord said the damage "certainly appears to be" due to a tornado. He said the damage at a trucking company happened right at the border of Lyons and McCook on 47th Street.
"It looked very nasty," Nord said. "You could see debris floating around in the clouds and then all of the sudden we started getting the calls."
He added sirens went off three times in the Lyons area.
McCook Mayor Terry Carr told CBS 2 a motel in the village had its roof torn off and about 30 ComEd poles were "snapped in half" because of the damage. One person who was staying in the motel with his family said he could hear the roof being lifted off of the building.
Crews were working to clean up the damage.
"At this point we're telling everybody to stay in your house," Carr said, adding crews were working to get powerlines back up and running so residents should stay away from any downed lines. "You do not know if they're live," he added.
Still, he reported shortly before 8:30 p.m. that no injuries were reported, just a lot of property damage.
Over in Countryside, large trees were ripped out of the ground and toppled over as roofs peeled back on businesses and homes. Those caught in the storm said they heard the sirens but did not have time to get out of the storm's path.
"People were screaming," said Jack Wright, a Hodgkins resident. "There's floods all over. This storm was really bad. I've never seen anything like this."
Still, despite all the damage, no injures were reported.