Since 1986, there have been 194 tornado warnings issued in the month of November in Illinois: More than half of them, 101, were issued Sunday, according to the Chicago Weather Center.
Hardest hit was Washington, a town of 15,000 people east of Peoria. Whole blocks were leveled, prompting the Illinois National Guard to send a 10-person firefighting and search and rescue team. Officials were still trying to determine the extent of injuries Sunday evening, but at least one death was reported and more than 30 injured.
"The devastation is just unbelievable," said Mayor Gary Manier, estimating as many as 500 homes may have been damaged in his town. "I can't imagine people walked away from these places."
Farther south, a powerful tornado ravaged Washington County, obliterating farms and livestock and killing Joseph Hoy, 80, and his sister Frances Hoy, 78, according to Coroner Mark Styninger.
Joseph Hoy's body was found in a field about 100 yards east of his farmhouse. His sister's body was found inside the home beneath debris, he said. "(Joseph Hoy's) house was blown away by a tornado," said Styninger, who knew the siblings personally. "They were just very nice people."
The National Weather Service said an EF-4 tornado slammed into the county with winds of 166 to 200 miles per hour.
Three other deaths were reported in Massac County at the southern tip of the state. The small town of Brookport was hit hard, with hundreds of homes damaged, officials said. Buildings were smashed into piles of rubble. Power lines were strewn through the town. A curfew has been issued from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.
"We opened the door and started looking around. My friend had come over and a tree had landed on top of his car, broke out a couple windows. The house next to us, a tree fell through their roof," one man said.
Closer to Chicago, in Grundy County, an EF-2 tornado touched down in the Coal City area near Joliet with wind speeds of 111 to 135 mph, the National Weather Service said. Hundreds of homes were damaged, and a subdivision in the community of Diamond was ordered evacuated.
Lisa Glisson rushed to a dance studio to check on her two children in Diamond. Then the tornado sirens went off. She said one teen at the studio invited everyone to her house to seek shelter in its basement, so about 30 children piled into cars and sped off for safety.
"You could feel the change in the air," Glisson said. "You could hear the wind going over and it just felt heavy, surrounding you."
Gov. Patrick Quinn has declared seven counties disaster areas: Champaign, Grundy, LaSalle, Massac, Tazewell, Washington and Woodford counties.
Quinn plans to visit the communities of Washington, Diamond, Gifford, Brookport and New Minden, according to a statement from his office.
The Illinois Emergency Management Agency is coordinating efforts with other state agencies to help affected areas, according to Quinn's office.
About 19,000 customers still lack electricity following the storm, according to ComEd. Only 1,300 of those customers are in Chicago. The rest are mostly in the utility's southern region -- 11,200 -- with about 1,000 down in the north region and 5,400 in the west region.
(c) 2013 McClatchy News Service
