4 tornadoes from Monday's storms confirmed as thousands remain without power in Illinois and NW Indiana

The National Weather Service confirmed four tornado touchdowns in the Chicago area during Monday's severe storms.

The NWS said an EF1 tornado with peak winds near 110 miles per hour touched down in or near Lansing, Illinois, and appeared to lift just east of the Illinois/Indiana state line in Munster. EF-1 damage was found around Hazel Crest.

The service also confirmed an EF-0 tornado with peak wind near 80 miles per hour that touched down in or near Glen Ellyn in DuPage County.

An EF-0 tornado also impacted western and northwest Orland Park, Illinois.

The NWS also confirmed two incidents of damaging straight-line winds stronger than 70 miles per hour impacted Carol Stream and Downers Grove, both in DuPage County, Monday.

Thousands of people are still without power after the two rounds of storms Monday. Severe storms prompted tornado and thunderstorm warnings across Illinois and Northwest Indiana. 

"I want to underscore that this was a massive weather event and will call for a multi-day restoration," said ComEd chief operating officer David Perez. "In total, approximately 530,000 customers lost power from the extreme wave of weather systems impacting our region."

Perez said more than 325,000 customers had had power restored across the city and suburbs by late Tuesday morning.

"One customer outage is too many," Perez said. "That's why we are moving swiftly to respond, bringing in resources from all over the country to resolve this storm and restore power to our customers and communities."

Perez said more than 2,300 workers were on the ground to restore power Tuesday morning, and 1,200 of them were from outside the area.

For those wondering when their power would be restored, patience will be required.

"We are working aggressively to provide localized restoration times by the end of the day," said Perez. "We understand how difficult it is to be without power and the impact that it has on our lives. We are working around the clock to restore power to all customers safely."

You can track the progress on the ComEd outage map. 

At the peak of the severe weather, 61,000 NIPSCO customers were also without power in Northwest Indiana.

Early Tuesday, that number was down to fewer than 20,000 customers. Most of the outages were reported in Chesterton and Valparaiso.

Nipsco as of Tuesday morning had not provided an estimate of when residents will have power restored. You can check for updates on the outage map on the NIPSCO website. 

Storm damage hits south suburbs especially hard

During the storms, high-speed winds ripped through a row of townhomes in south suburban Hazel Crest, Illinois, leaving dozens of people displaced. 

Hazel Crest officials met Tuesday morning to discuss the damage. Anthony Avenue and 171st Street were hit especially hard — actual pieces of brick flew off townhomes, and walls were sheared off buildings.

One woman's bed was even visible from the sidewalk.

Michael Willis rushed over to check on his elderly aunt in Hazel Crest during the storm. She was OK, but her unit was not.

"Wild — that's what was going through my head, you know, because such extensive damage to where it's that, it's unbelievable — you know, wouldn't believe what's going on," he said, "because it only lasted 10 minutes at the most."

The storm also wreaked havoc in south suburban Lansing, where homes and roofs were damaged, and trees were left splintered with limbs scattered across lawns.

About 1,000 ComEd customers were without power in Lansing alone. In Hazel Crest, the outage map showed more than 75% of homes didn't have power.

In Steger, the fire department said the midday storm Monday hit the village hard, with winds reaching 80 mph. The winds ripped down power lines and left trees down across the town.

The Steger Fire Department responded to more than 40 calls for service to clear roads and manage immediate hazards.

Other south and southwest suburban areas — including Homewood, Flossmoor, and Tinley Park — also saw extensive damage from the storms on Monday. Tinley Park resident James Bell said he saw the storm coming from his window and rushed to get his dog and get to a safe place.

"I made it to the bottom of the stairs, and that's when it started. It instantly went from how it looks now to greenish black, with a lot of this debris flying past the door," Bell said. "I grabbed my dog. We ran down to the basement. I never heard any sirens going off or anything. My phone did go off with the tornado warning."

The Homewood-Flossmoor Park District posted a list of closures that affect pools, Iron Oaks Environmental Learning Center, the Millennium Park Splash Pad, programs at Irwin Center, and Coyote Run Golf Course.

The south suburbs were not alone in being hit hard. In west suburban Glen Ellyn, storms uprooted a tree that then fell onto a home over 100 years old. 

The tree was uprooted during a tornado warning in the area.

Red Cross opening shelters after severe storms

The American Red Cross is offering assistance to people who are affected by the storms in Lake, Will, and southern Cook counties.

The Red Cross opened two shelters in the south suburban Steger and in north suburban Gurnee. 

Anyone in need can get food, charge their devices and find community resources.

An American Red Cross employee said 21 people were staying at the Steger shelter after being displaced by the Monday storms. They included Aaliyah Mcphearson and her family with two young children from Hazel Crest, who described the storm as being something out of a movie.

Cellphone video taken by Aaliyah Mcphearson showed an HVAC unit strewn across the lawn, and the roofing tarp literally draped across the side of a building like a giant torn up blanket.

Large pieces of the building blew straight into the parking lot, causing extensive damage to many of the parked cars.

Mcphearson said her motherly instincts kicked in, and she grabbed her two young children and ran downstairs to the safest place they could find. Her boyfriend described the scene.

"The storm came out of nowhere. At first, it started like raining a little bit, and then I heard the sirens, and then it just got bad from there, and then things just started going through the window, stuff started caving in," said Shewond Gibbs. "I haven't slept. Like actually, I let my family sleep. I've been up all day trying to think what's going to go on, what's the next step about us getting our homes, and just everybody just being OK at this point."

Meanwhile, officials also passed along some safety advice. The Steger fire Department wants residents to treat all downed power lines as if they are live and dangerous, and warns anyone using a portable generator to have it outside and in a well-ventilated area to avoid carbon monoxide poisoning.

Search for missing contractor in Downers Grove storm sewer

Storms also hampered search efforts for a contractor who was swept into a storm sewer in Downers Grove on Monday afternoon. 

Rescuers Tuesday morning were calling the search a recovery operation, meaning it is not believed that the missing worker survived.

Rescue crews with at least half a dozen west suburban fire departments were seen diving headfirst into the storm sewer near Curtiss and Washington streets in downtown Downers Grove in search of two contractors who became trapped in the storm sewer.  

Around 3 p.m., neighbors took video showing one of the contractors being wheeled into an ambulance after they were rescued after a two-hour search. This contractor was found about 200 feet from where he went into the system, and was taken to Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital in good condition.

But as rushing water continued to fill the tunnel, crews were forced to suspend their search for the second worker on Monday, calling conditions too dangerous. Officials have now transitioned from a rescue to a recovery mission.

Downers Grove resident Mike Lane compared the situation to the 2018 rescue of a youth soccer team from Tham Luang Cave in Thailand.

"I thought this was going to be like a movie or something," he said. "I mean, it is like the scariest thing ever." 

The Village of Downers Grove said the search will resume when the conditions are safe.