Severe storms hit the Chicagoland area overnight, causing damage in suburban Kane and DeKalb counties, and Vi Nguyen has the story.
Severe storms hit the Chicagoland area overnight, causing damage in suburban Kane and DeKalb counties.
Strong winds ripped off the roofs of barns and even an historic church, and now cleanup is underway in numerous communities.
“I’m just glad somebody didn’t get hurt,” said barn owner Scott Thorp, “It happened before five years ago, (but) not this bad, not this magnitude."
Thorp spent Saturday afternoon cleaning up his property on Chicago Road in Somonauk. Two of his sheds were destroyed in the middle of the night, as one was knocked down and the other had its roof ripped off by the ferocious winds.
“Basically the whole roof landed across the street and it’s lucky no cars were going by at the time,” he said. “It’s a pretty big mess.”
He’s been working to secure the framing to the roof hoping to prevent more damage and says this isn’t the first time his property has been hit.
“The winds out here seem to be getting worse all the time,” he said. “I don’t know if this is tornado alley, but it seems to be.”
Local
A tornado warning was issued for the area overnight with wind speeds of up to 60 miles per hour. In suburban Elgin, tornado sirens blared as police and fire officials received calls of downed trees and power lines throughout the night.
“We had some lines down on the railroad tracks on State Street and then probably another 20-30 calls for power lines down,” said Elgin Fire Battalion Chief Richard Cummings.
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First United Methodist Church also had extensive damage to its roof. The lead pastor of the historic church in downtown Elgin told NBC Chicago the church has been in the community for 187 years.
“This is shocking to say the least, but I give God thanks and praised that this building that we’re still here,” said Rev. Dr. Felicia LaBoy, First UMC Elgin Lead Pastor.
She says several people part of the homeless ministry was sleeping in the basement at the time, and thankfully were not injured.
Her congregation vows to rebuild and plan to worship virtually Sunday followed by an in-person prayer service at noon.
“I think the thing I want to say is thank you, thanks to God, and thanks to this community just for all the things they’ve done for us,” she said.
