A tornado ripped through the western suburbs late Sunday night, severely damaging homes and knocking out power. At least one person was listed in critical condition.
The tornado touchdown was confirmed about 11:10 p.m. near Route 53 and 75th Street in Woodridge, the National Weather Service said. It also hit portions of Naperville, Downers Grove and Darien, smashing cars, ripping roofs off homes, downing power lines, shearing off garage doors, uprooting large trees and spewing debris in the streets.
Naperville reported that at least five people were taken to Edwards Hospital, and one of them — a woman — was in critical condition. At least 130 homes were damaged, 10 of them considered uninhabitable.
Emergency crews continued going door to door checking on residents into the early morning. As the sun rose, more and more people came out of their homes, some walking their pets as they surveyed the damage, many taking photos and videos in disbelief.
“Unbelievable,” a woman said while staring at a home missing its roof and a wall.
Generators hummed, and a tractor began clearing streets and pushing away fallen trees in Woodridge. “We have no power at all,” Woodridge Mayor Gina Cunningham said. “I’m sitting in the dark waiting to hear back about what’s going on and gathering reports.”
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Nate Casey, 16, strummed his guitar as he sat in a lawn chair with his mother, Bridget Casey, in their driveway around 4 a.m. The entire second floor of their house was gone, and their garage was partially destroyed.
The home is in the 7800 block of Woodridge Drive, believed to be one of the areas hit hardest by the storm.
Nate said he was watching TV when the storm rolled through. “I just heard a loud crash and I’m thinking, ‘Oh, what are my brothers up to?’ I go look and I see the sky, and then I hear my brothers screaming from the room.”
Nate, a student at Downers Grove South, helped his mother get his three younger siblings to the basement. He grabbed some of his camping equipment and scout gear just to be safe before going down himself.
“I just can’t believe it happened, you know? It’s not something that you see too often or at all, and it’s just scary that everything just comes crashing in,” Nate said. “Something that I was happy to see, that was not broken, was my dad’s ashes, but there’s really nothing else. It’s all material, I’m still worried about the bearded dragon that’s stuck up there but we’re going to get him in the morning.”
He said he was waiting for the streets to be cleared so his aunt could get them.
“It’s been long,” Bridget Casey said as she pulled a quilt tighter around her shoulders. “Just trying to make sure that we can get everything taken care of, we have all the important stuff and waiting for the roads to be cleared enough so my sisters can come.”
Bridget Casey said she plans to live with her sister while their house gets repaired, though she doesn’t know how long that will take.
“I was just happy that everybody was OK,” she said.
Down the street was Donna Suchecki, who gathered in a driveway with a few of her neighbors. They sipped wine and moonshine out of blue plastic cups and talked about the damage.
“It’s overwhelming, I think we’re … all of us are like, ‘Oh my God, this really happened.’ It’s kind of a dream, you see it on TV, you see shows, you see stuff like that on tornados and … then you come out here and you see the cops, you see the fire trucks and stuff and you’re just like, ‘Wow.’ … We got lucky, it could’ve been something really seriously,” Suchecki said.
Heaps of trees covered Suchecki’s front lawn, but “luckily nothing hit” the house, she said. Her fence was smashed under a tree, though she said it needed to be replaced anyway.
“When I see this in the morning tomorrow, we’ll deal with it when we have to,” Suchecki, 45, said.
Across the street, two cars sat untouched on a slab of cement where the garage once was. Suchecki said it was uprooted and tossed into the backyard, where it hit a power line, leaving the block without power.
“It could be worse,” said Suchecki. “It’s crazy to go through this, that’s a traumatic event.”
No serious injuries were reported in Woodridge or Darien.
In Naperville, where at least 12 homes were damaged, four people were transported with noncritical injuries to Edward Hospital. Six to 10 others were transported with minor injuries.
“Our first priority was making sure that the families were OK, but now we are moving on to handling the damage,” said Linda LaCloche, Naperville communications director.
“We have power outages in the area and have electrical teams checking on that. We also had some gas leaks reported, so Nicor Gas is going door to door to shut off all the gas lines.”
Crystal Porter was on her way home from her mother’s home in Joliet when she got a tornado warning alert. She said it took her five attempts to find a way to her home in the 2700 block of Everglade Avenue.
Ultimately, the retired military veteran had to move a tree to do so. After checking her dogs, Porter walked around the streets to assess the damage.
“I couldn’t believe it. I’ve lived here for 27 years and I’ve never seen trees come down here like this. Ever,” Porter said.
Porter noticed firefighters doing a search and rescue at a partially destroyed home and removing a cage filled with doves. With the owners not home, Porter grabbed a dog crate from her garage and rescued the birds.
“At least they’re not left out in the street,” she said.
This is a developing story, check back for details.
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Tornado damage at the corner of Woodridge Dr. And Jonquil Ln. in Woodridge early Monday morning.
Rich Hein/Sun-Times
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Tornado damage at the corner of Woodridge Dr. And Jonquil Ln. in Woodridge early Monday morning.
Rich Hein/Sun-Times
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Bridget Casey sits in the driveway of her severely damaged home on the 7800 block of Woodridge Dr. In Woodridge with son Nate, 16, and daughter Marion, 14 at approximately 2:30 am Monday morning.
Rich Hein/Sun-Times
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Tornado damage near Janes Ave. south of 75th St. in Woodridge early Monday morning.
Rich Hein/Sun-Times
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Bridget Casey sits in the driveway of her severely damaged home on the 7800 block of Woodridge Dr. In Woodridge with son Nate, 16, and daughter Marion, 14 at approximately 2:30 am Monday morning.
Rich Hein/Sun-Times
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Tornado damage off Janes Ave. in Woodridge early Monday morning.
Rich Hein/Sun-Times
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Tornado damage on Chestnut Ave. in Woodridge early Monday morning.
Rich Hein/Sun-Times
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Tornado damage on Chestnut Ave. in Woodridge early Monday morning.
Rich Hein/Sun-Times
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Tornado damage on Chestnut Ave. in Woodridge early Monday morning.
Rich Hein/Sun-Times
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Tornado damage west of Janes Ave. in Woodridge early Monday morning.
Rich Hein/Sun-Times
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Tornado damage on Evergreen Ln. in Woodridge early Monday morning.
Rich Hein/Sun-Times
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Tornado damage on Evergreen Ln. in Woodridge early Monday morning.
Rich Hein/Sun-Times
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Tornado damage on Evergreen Ln. in Woodridge early Monday morning.
Rich Hein/Sun-Times
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Tornado damage on Janes Ave. in Woodridge early Monday morning.
Rich Hein/Sun-Times
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Tornado damage at Evergreen Ln. and Janes Ave. in Woodridge early Monday morning.
Rich Hein/Sun-Times
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Tornado damage at Evergreen Ln. and Janes Ave. in Woodridge early Monday morning.
Rich Hein/Sun-Times
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Tornado damage at Evergreen Ln. and Janes Ave. in Woodridge early Monday morning.
Rich Hein/Sun-Times
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Tornado damage at Evergreen Ln. and Janes Ave. in Woodridge early Monday morning.
Rich Hein/Sun-Times
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Tornado damage at Evergreen Ln. and Janes Ave. in Woodridge early Monday morning.
Rich Hein/Sun-Times
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Tornado damage on Chestnut Ave. in Woodridge early Monday morning.
Rich Hein/Sun-Times
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Tornado damage on Jonquil Ln. in Woodridge early Monday morning.
Rich Hein/Sun-Times
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Tornado damage at the corner of Woodridge Dr. And Jonquil Ln. in Woodridge early Monday morning.
Rich Hein/Sun-Times
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Tornado damage at the corner of Woodridge Dr. And Jonquil Ln. in Woodridge early Monday morning.
Rich Hein/Sun-Times
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Tornado damage at the corner of Woodridge Dr. And Jonquil Ln. in Woodridge early Monday morning.
Rich Hein/Sun-Times
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An emergency vehicle races past a damaged home on Woodward Ave, after a tornado touched down near suburban Woodridge, Monday, June 21, 2021.
Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times
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Residents walk around their neighborhood near Woodward Ave and Egerton Ct, after a tornado touched down near suburban Woodridge, Monday, June 21, 2021.
Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times
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A couple walk past a damaged home on Woodward Ave, after a tornado touched down near suburban Woodridge, Monday, June 21, 2021.
Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times
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Lisle police block Egerton Dr at Woodward Ave due to fallen trees in the road, after a tornado touched down near suburban Woodridge, Monday, June 21, 2021.
Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times
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A home with sever roof damage on Egerton Ct near Paddington Rd, after a tornado touched down near suburban Woodridge, Monday, June 21, 2021.
Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times
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A group of people walk by a road blocked by Elmhurst police at Westview Ln and Brentwood Ct, after a tornado touched down near suburban Woodridge, Monday, June 21, 2021.
Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times
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A home with a tree branch crashed through the garage and a bedroom at Estate Cir, near Ranchview Dr. after a tornado touched down near suburban Woodridge, Monday, June 21, 2021.
Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times
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Firefighters navigate around fallen trees and branches that litter Cobblebrook Ln near Ranchview Dr, after a tornado touched down near suburban Woodridge, Monday, June 21, 2021.
Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times
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Firefighters navigate around fallen trees and branches that litter Cobblebrook Ln near Ranchview Dr, after a tornado touched down near suburban Woodridge, Monday, June 21, 2021.
Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times
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Fallen trees and branches litter Cobblebrook Ln near Ranchview Dr, after a tornado touched down near suburban Woodridge, Monday, June 21, 2021.
Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times
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Fallen trees and branches litter Cobblebrook Ln near Ranchview Dr, after a tornado touched down near suburban Woodridge, Monday, June 21, 2021.
Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times
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A bird cage full of doves sits outside a destroyed home on Jonquil Lane and Woodridge Drive, after a tornado touched down near suburban Woodridge, Monday, June 21, 2021.
Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times
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A home with a damaged roof sits on Everglade Ave and Woodridge Drive, after a tornado touched down near suburban Woodridge, Monday, June 21, 2021.
Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times
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A home with a damaged roof sits on Everglade Ave and Woodridge Drive, after a tornado touched down near suburban Woodridge, Monday, June 21, 2021.
Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times
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A home with a damaged roof sits on Everglade Ave and Woodridge Drive, after a tornado touched down near suburban Woodridge, Monday, June 21, 2021.
Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times
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A destroyed home sits on Jonquil Lane and Woodridge Drive, after a tornado touched down near suburban Woodridge, Monday, June 21, 2021.
Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times
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Crystal Porter transfers Doves from a destroyed bird cage into a dog carrier, after a tornado touched down near suburban Woodridge, Monday, June 21, 2021.
Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times
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A home with a damaged roof sits on Everglade Ave, after a tornado touched down near suburban Woodridge, Monday, June 21, 2021.
Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times
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Residents of Everglade Ave pose for a photo, after a tornado touched down near suburban Woodridge, Monday, June 21, 2021.
Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times
