Tornado rips through Coal City, injures 5; Sublette campground 'decimated' by storms

CHICAGO -- At least five tornadoes touched down in north central Illinois, the National Weather Service confirms. Those tornadoes touched down in Will, Kankakee, Lee, Grundy and LaSalle counties.

The storm was moving east, threatening to bring similar weather to northern Indiana and parts of Michigan, where strong winds also damaged homes, prompted rescues and knocked out power to thousands of people late Monday and early Tuesday.

The most recent tornado touchdown was reported about 10:20 p.m. Monday near Interstate 57 in Bourbonnais in Kankakee County, according to the National Weather Service. A tornado touched down 10 minutes earlier in Lakewood Shores, just southeast of Braidwood in southwest Will County, according to the weather service.

The National Weather Service said the towns of Coal City, Sublette and Mendota were among the hardest hit by Monday night's severe weather. Officials said damage survey teams will be dispatched later Tuesday morning to those communities, as well as Harmon, Ottawa, Morris, Braidwood and Momence.

"At this point in time, the best words to describe it is decimated," Fire Chief Kevin Schultz said Tuesday morning. "There are trailers that are in trees. There are trailers that are upside down. ... It is the worst thing I've ever seen."

One person was hospitalized with serious but not life-threatening injuries. Four other people described as "walking wounded" were either treated on scene or refused treatment, Schultz said, but he noted the injury count could increase.

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A suspected tornado hit Coal City, about 70 miles southeast of the camping resort, around 10 p.m. Monday and damaged several subdivisions. Local resident Larry Roseland said he and his wife opened their windows so they could hear any warning sirens, and he noted he was in Coal City two years ago when another tornado struck the community.

"We heard the sirens and heard this eerie sound coming," Roseland told WGN-TV. "It was really scary."

Authorities said five people suffered minor injuries and everyone was accounted for in the city of about 5,000 people, but search crews planned to conduct a secondary search with daylight.

The American Red Cross said about 30 people stayed at a shelter in a Coal City church, while a handful of other people stayed at a shelter in nearby Sublette.

"I do know the resiliency of this community," Mayor Terry Halliday said Tuesday morning. "We will definitely get through this."

The Illinois Emergency Management Agency was gathering information on the extent of the storm damage.

At the height of the storm, about 56,000 homes and businesses were without power in northern Illinois, mostly in Dixon, Sterling, Joliet and Coal City, according to Commonwealth Edison. The utility said about 17,000 customers were without power by about 7:30 a.m.

Michigan saw similar weather Monday and early Tuesday, as a series of severe thunderstorms wrecked homes and knocked out power to thousands of people. The National Weather Service said one tornado hit about 1:30 a.m. Tuesday just outside of Manchester, southwest of Ann Arbor.

Garrett Macomber told The Ann Arbor News that his farm was among those damaged.

"Half the roof is gone, it ripped out the trees, and I don't even know about our fence," Macomber said as he surveyed his property. "The roof is all the way out in the hay field."

Macomber said he jumped out of bed and ran to get everyone into the basement of his home as quickly as possible. The four people who live at the farm were accounted for, as were two dogs, 10 horses and a goat.

"It was a ridiculous amount of wind," he said. "It felt like the whole house was lifting off its foundation."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.