The meatballs in tomato sauce sat untouched in a frying pan on the stove Thursday morning.
Such was the haste with which Kathy Collins fled her kitchen the night before to dash into the basement.
“We turned off the gas, made it onto the staircase, and then things just started collapsing,” said Collins, 60.
Chainsaws buzzed and wood chippers growled up and down Collins’ street Thursday in west suburban Countryside. A blue tarp stretched across Collins’ roof where the chimney had collapsed Wednesday evening, shortly after the lash of rain and the wail of the sirens began.
A tornado touched down in Burr Ridge, churning from west to east across Indian Head Park, Countryside and Hodgkins, said Karl Argast, chief of the Pleasantview Fire Protection District. Fire crews responded to 47 calls in the first hour after the twister struck, but there were no known injuries, Argast said.
“Unbelievably amazing — a blessing, with the amount of damage,” Argast said.
Argast echoed a common refrain when he said he’d never seen wind like the kind that tore through his district.
By Thursday afternoon, National Weather Service meteorologists had confirmed 11 tornadoes from the previous day’s storm system, though more were expected to be verified along nine stretches with significant damage across Chicago and its collar counties.
Two tornadoes were reported near O’Hare Airport. Additionally, a waterspout was confirmed about a mile offshore from North Avenue Beach.
Below is a map highlighting areas where we suspect tornadoes may have touched down last evening. Our team will be out surveying damage today to determine exactly where these tornadoes tracked. Stay tuned for updates over the next several days. #ILwx pic.twitter.com/SafDnyI3uF
— NWS Chicago (@NWSChicago) July 13, 2023
One confirmed EF1 tornado — on a scale that goes up to EF5 — tore through the southwest suburbs with top wind speeds of 110 mph on a path from Burr Ridge to Stickney. Numerous trees were “snapped and uprooted,” forecasters said.
Ted Berger, executive director of the Cook County Emergency Management and Regional Security Department, said local authorities started receiving damage reports along that roughly 10-mile corridor within a few minutes of a tornado warning being issued at 6:10 p.m. Wednesday.
“We’re fortunate to say that we’re unaware of any fatalities or significant injuries from these dangerous storms,” Berger said, noting that the latest severe weather compounded problems for many Cook County residents who were flooded with nearly 9 inches of rain July 2.
“Having this [tornado] occur during rush hour, with hundreds of drivers on the road, exponentially increased the risk,” he said.
Other tornadoes with less powerful gusts were confirmed in Oswego, Huntley, Barrington and Long Grove, plus two in Elgin.
Officials in those counties reported mostly minor damage, and no injuries. An estimated 13,000 utility customers lost electricity across the region at the height of the storms, according to Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s office, which said nearly all power has been restored.
Marion Novak, 77, stood in her Countryside front yard Thursday, waiting to hear from her insurance agent. Shards of roof rafters jutted from her front lawn like spears. Her garage door was found high in a tree two lots down from her home.
“In 77 years, other than people I’ve known who’ve been sick, this is the worst thing that has ever happened,” Novak said.
She was sitting down to watch “Jeopardy!” when the wind began to blow. Everything went dark. She cursed.
“I stepped back and then I heard everything fall,” she said.
She was lucky. She was in the back of her house. The storm ripped off a part of the roof above her dining room in the front of the house, leaving her ceiling fan dangling on a cord from the bare ceiling joists.
“It wasn’t my time,” she said, before taking a call from the insurance company.
Collins was counting her blessings, too, even though the storm tore down a dozen trees in her backyard and collapsed her chimney.
“I’ve always been told by my dad: Own a house with a basement,” she said. “I’m so blessed that nobody is hurt. The almighty Father has got my back.”
In nearby Hodgkins, half A dozen bright red beefsteak tomatoes lay scattered in the Ettleson Cadillac parking lot, where the tornado had lifted up and hurled shopping carts from the nearby Sam’s Club.
Mike Ettleson, the owner, was driving home about 6:10 p.m. Wednesday when his cell phone squawked — a warning about an approaching tornado. He got a call from his service manager who said, “We’ve been hit.”
Workers were hauling a tarp over a damaged portion of the service area Thursday, but the showroom was untouched, Ettleson said.
“No people were hurt — we were lucky on that. It was late in the day, and the shop was pretty much empty,” he said.
Elgin homeowner Robert Naviaux said the storm passed by his neighborhood in a flash, leaving debris and fallen trees over everyone’s front yards.
“We went straight to our basement when it hit and we could hear stuff going on, but it was over so quick,” Naviaux said. “That’s what surprised me the most, it was here and then it was gone in like maybe a minute.”
Naviaux said he worried for the safety of his next door neighbors and their dogs and tried reaching them over the phone to warn them about the storm.
Joann Harms, who also lives in the Edgewater by Del Webb subdivision, said she had gone out to celebrate her 54th wedding anniversary.
“When I got to the restaurant I noticed I started getting a bunch of calls,” Harms said. “My dog Wrigley is afraid of thunder and lightning. And I was afraid that she would just be freaking out.”
Some homes showed little damage, but other parts of the neighborhood were closed off to traffic.
Many residents spent the day helping each other pick up debris.
“Thankfully many of us were OK, but there were some houses that were damaged enough that they couldn’t go back in their house,” Naviaux said. “The positive thing is everyone on the street was helping each other, and the cleanup was very quick.”
