6 of 7 dead from Iowa tornado ID'd; Chicago wind causes damage, leaves hundreds without power
Kids ages 2, 5 killed in tornado
CHICAGO (WLS) -- Some have been cleaning up from the storms that moved through the Chicago area Saturday night.
High winds knocked down trees and power lines on the city's Northwest Side. Over 34,000 ComEd customers in the Chicago area lost power as storms and high winds ripped through the region Saturday night. As of 4:00 p.m. Sunday, less than 500 customers remained without service, ComEd said.
At least one home was damaged when a tree crashed down onto a porch. A roof was also blown off a building.
Sever thunderstorm warnings for Cook and Will counties expired at 12:01 a.m. Sunday. A warning for DuPage county expired at 11:45 p.m. Saturday and warnings for Lake, De Kalb, Boone, Kane, McHenry and Kendall counties were canceled earlier Saturday night. Winds up to 60 mph were reported in Grove Village at 11:16 p.m. Saturday. Warnings for Benton and Jasper counties in Indiana expired at 12:48 a.m. Sunday.
So far, there no reports of injuries in the Chicago area, but at least seven people, including two children, were killed in Iowa when a tornado moved through. Six of those people, including the two children, were killed in Madison County.
Officials identified the four deceased Madison County adults as 63-year-old Melissa Bazley, 64-year-old Rodney Clark, 72-year-old Cecilia Lloyd, and 37-year-old Michael Bolger. The two Madison County children who died were identified as 5-year-old Kenley Bolger and 2-year-old Owen Bolger.
Emergency officials said the tornado was spotted around 4:30 p.m. Saturday. The severe weather event also caused significant damage to several homes southwest of Des Moines. An official with Madison County Emergency Management confirmed that the tornado damaged or destroyed 52 homes. Six people were still being treated for their injuries.
The National Weather Service in the area said initial photos and videos suggest this may have been an EF3 tornado.
Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds toured storm damage and spoke with victim's families earlier Sunday. Reynolds' voice cracked and she talked about the outpouring of support from local community volunteers.
"I tried to walk through and thank them for being there and over and over their response was, we're Iowans and that's what we do. We show up, we take care of our family, we take care of our neighbors and we take care of our community," Reynolds said.
The Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this report.
