A major weather system brought tornadoes, damaging winds, and heavy rain to millions of people across the central United States and Northeast, with forecasters warning that the severe weather threat would persist through midweek.
The storms began late Tuesday and continued into Wednesday, producing at least four confirmed tornado touchdowns in eastern Illinois and causing significant damage across the region into Indiana. The National Weather Service reported that a supercell storm system tracked from Kankakee County, Illinois, into Indiana late Tuesday, leaving a path of destruction. The small town of Lake Village, Indiana, was hit particularly hard, with officials reporting multiple homes destroyed. At least two people were killed in Indiana as a result of the storms.
The tornado near the Kankakee fairgrounds moved northeast into Aroma Park before continuing into Indiana. Downed trees and power lines across the area south of Chicago overwhelmed emergency services and 911 operators. In central Texas, a separate tornado brought 60 mph wind gusts and baseball-sized hail to Taylor County.
AccuWeather meteorologist Brandon Buckingham reported spotting at least 10 tornadoes across Illinois, Indiana, and Texas. He noted that nearly 200 filtered reports of severe weather spanned more than 2,500 miles from Texas to Michigan. The chain of storms was expected to peak midweek and could become "the most widespread and impactful severe weather outbreak so far this year," according to weather forecasters.
States from Oklahoma to Michigan remained under tornado watches as the system moved eastward. Andrew Lyons, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center, said the exact number of tornado touchdowns would not be confirmed until after officials completed damage assessments. He described the system as a fairly typical early spring strong storm pattern expected to move northeast toward the Atlantic coast.
The severe weather threatened to bring intense tornadoes, damaging winds, and very large hail from the southern plains to the southern Great Lakes. Forecasters warned that the system would likely reach the Washington DC area by Wednesday afternoon, bringing new threats of damaging winds and tornadoes. A line of storms was predicted to sweep east and move into Ohio and Tennessee, affecting cities including Cincinnati, Memphis, and Nashville.
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker said in a statement that he had been briefed on the storm and tornado damage. "Keeping in our thoughts all Illinoisans impacted by the severe weather - we'll be here to help them recover," he said on social media early Wednesday.
Emergency management officials and first responders faced challenging circumstances as they dealt with the storms' aftermath while warning the public to stay away from affected areas to allow rescue operations to proceed.