A Naperville resident’s surveillance camera captured the terrifying moment a tornado tore through the community on Sunday, leaving a path of damage and destruction in its wake.
Steve Siannas' Ring camera caught several minutes of the severe weather from multiple angles, which can be watched live in the video player above.
Video of his back patio shows heavy rain as winds whip the cover off his grill and knock down his basketball hoop, dragging it and the outdoor furniture several feet as several items are whipped around in the tornado's fierce gusts.
A second clip shows Siannas' driveway as rain falls, lightning strikes and harsh winds can be heard hitting the camera, growing stronger and stronger until the driveway is barely visible through the cyclonic winds, rain and debris.
A National Weather Service spokesman on Monday confirmed that a tornado touched down in Naperville, then Woodridge and the Darien area, moving from west to east late Sunday night. The tornado paralleled 75th Street into Woodridge and crossed 355, he said.
Based on an initial damage assessment of the Naperville area, the NWS estimated that the twister was an EF-3 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale, packing wind speeds of nearly 140 miles per hour.
The damage the team surveyed was “consistent with wind speeds corresponding” to an EF-1 or EF-2 tornado, but one pocket of damage, located near Princeton Circle in Naperville, is consistent with EF-3 rating, indicating that the twister was packing wind speeds between 136 and 165 miles per hour.
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The Enhanced Fujita Scale, which was brought into use in 2007, uses estimated wind gusts in three-second increments to determine the strength and power of a tornado.
All estimates are preliminary, and additional information about the path, length and width of the tornado will be accrued in coming days as the surveying crew continues its work.
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The NWS conducted a damage survey of the area on Monday morning, reporting that the tornado touched down near Naperville just after 11 p.m. Sunday and ended near Willow Springs.
Naperville officials said the tornado was reported to have touched down at around 11:10 p.m. in the area just south of 75th Street and Ranchview Drive before moving east.
Naperville authorities said Monday that at least eight people were injured and 22 homes were left uninhabitable, with more than 130 homes that sustained at least some property damage.
