Tornado Touchdown, Lightning Fires In Downers Grove
DOWNERS GROVE, Ill. (STMW) -- Wednesday evening's storms spawned a tornado that touched down near Downers Grove.
Funnel clouds also were reportedly spotted in the skies near 87th and Washington streets on Naperville's far south side and on the border between Bolingbrook and Woodridge, according to reports broadcast over Naperville police and fire emergency radio channels.
Ben Deubelbiss, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Romeoville, said his agency "did have a report of a tornado on the ground" at 5:30 p.m. in an area south of Downers Grove. He said he did not know the specific location of the touchdown or whether the tornado caused any injuries or property damage.
Downers Grove police Sgt. Dave Bormann at 6:45 p.m. said he was aware of a tornado sighting near 87th Street and Lemont Road, but that it did not touch the ground there. "I'm not reporting any damage or any calls for emergency service," Bormann said.
Tornado sirens sounded just before 6 p.m. in parts of Naperville, after a funnel cloud was reportedly seen near 87th and Washington streets in the Old Farm/Naper Carriage Hill area. Another funnel cloud was sighted in an undisclosed area on the Bolingbrook-Woodridge border.
Yet another funnel cloud was reportedly seen about 6:33 p.m. by a citizen near Iroquois and Ogden avenues on Naperville's northeast side.
Lightning at 5:30 p.m. reportedly struck a house on the 1500 block of Chickasaw Drive in the Indian Hill area of Naperville's northeast side. Another lightning bolt at 6:15 p.m. reportedly damaged a house on Burgess Hill Road, in the Brighton Ridge area in the central part of the city, emergency radio reports indicated.
A National Weather Service tornado warning for the area was canceled at 6:22 p.m.
