Coal City Organizing Volunteers For Tornado Cleanup Effort
With lots of cleanup ahead in Coal City, after Monday night's tornado, a special volunteer effort has been planned for Friday.
Watch CBS News
With lots of cleanup ahead in Coal City, after Monday night's tornado, a special volunteer effort has been planned for Friday.
More bad weather on Wednesday could hamper recovery efforts in Coal City, which was hit by an EF-3 tornado Monday night. It was the most powerful tornado to hit the Chicago metropolitan area in nearly 25 years.
One of Monday night's tornadoes narrowly missed Exelon Nuclear's Braidwood plant. But the utility insists no one was endangered.
Governor Bruce Rauner toured the damage in tornado-ravaged Coal City first from the air and then on the ground, reports CBS 2's Derrick Blakley.
Survey teams with the National Weather Service have confirmed at least two tornados touched down Monday night, when powerful damaging storms swept through the western and southwestern suburbs.
For the second time in 19 months, southwest suburban Coal City was digging out from the rubble, after a powerful tornado tore roofs of houses, and reduced many other buildings to kindling.
Only a few hundred people live in the tiny hamlet of Sublette, about 100 miles west of Chicago, but it's a good bet each and every one of them felt the sting of Monday's storms, after a tornado hit the village.
A tornado ripped through Coal City, Illinois, on Monday. It was the second time in less than two years that the small town was devastated by a tornado.
Al Steinz was driving to Troy Grove, Illinois, when he spotted a tornado to the north, near Sublette.
National Weather Service crews were headed out Tuesday to try to confirm reports of up to six tornados touching down Monday in Grundy, LaSalle, Lee, and Will counties, including three already confirmed in Ottawa, Sublette, and Coal City.
The tornado reportedly touched down in the community of Sublette shortly after 8 p.m.
The congressional delegation for Illinois is asking President Barack Obama to make a disaster declaration allowing small businesses to get loans in recovery from severe storms and tornadoes in northern Illinois in April.
A tornado was the likely cause of the storm damage on Tuesday in south suburban Summit.
DeKalb County officials have said they're committed to making sure everyone who wants to rebuild after last month's tornado in the small town of Fairdale can clear any legal hurdles that might be in their way.
Fairdale residents whose homes were lost or severely damaged in last month's tornado have been learning rebuilding is not going to be so easy.
This weekend marks one month since a deadly tornado devastated the small town of Fairdale, and while cleanup efforts continue, most volunteers who showed up in the wake of the storm have moved on.
CBS 2 has hundreds of Weather Watchers across the Chicago area and many of them are real weather enthusiasts.
CBS 2's Jeremy Ross reports from northern Illinois, which was hit by tornadoes two weeks ago.
Richard Burtch is accused of stealing six to seven pickup loads worth of supplies, from tarps and tubs, to wheelbarrows and rakes, DeKalb County Sheriff Roger Scott said.
In the face of disaster, a Chicago boy's acts of kindness continue to grow. Samuel Love is organizing another toy drive, this time for the victims of last week's deadly tornadoes.
A week after a deadly tornado devastated the small town of Fairdale, there already have been signs of major progress, but lots more work is needed as survivors recover from the storm.
Last Thursday's severe weather created a total of 11 tornadoes in Illinois, including the rare EF-4 storm that destroyed much of two small towns west of Chicago.
For nearly a week now, WBBM Newsradio traffic reporter Kris Habermehl has been in the tornado zone near Rockford, serving as a volunteer firefighter.
Video posted on YouTube shows a North Carolina man's close encounter with one of the powerful tornadoes that hit Illinois near Rockford last week.
A photo from the home of a Fairdale tornado victim was found 35 miles away, reports WBBM's Mariam Sobh.
