Tornado outbreak hits Midwest

[Executor32]

(CNN)Tornadoes tore through parts of Iowa, Illinois and Ohio on Thursday in what forecasters from the National Weather Service warned is a "particularly dangerous situation."

People across the Midwest should be on alert for severe weather, the weather agency said, noting that a "large and extremely dangerous" twister was spotted near Camanche, Iowa at 5:46 p.m. (6:46 p.m. ET).

As reports of tornadoes in Illinois, Ohio and Iowa grew, ominous storm images quickly surfaced on social media.

In Rochelle, Illinois, there were "multiple reports of injuries and damage," the Ogle County Sheriff's dispatchers said.

Storm chaser Dan Gottschalk told CNN he observed "massive damage" north of Rochelle, spotting some homes with only their foundations remaining.

"You can hear the hissing everywhere from where the structures used to be," he said.

More tornadoes were later reported near the Illinois community of Ashton, which also saw tennis ball-sized hail, and around Rockford, which is Illinois' third largest city, about 85 miles northwest of Chicago.

Lee County, Illinois, which is about 50 miles south of Rockford, also had a tornado go through, county Emergency Management Agency Director Kevin Lalley said.

"We do have damage at this time," Lalley said. "I'm trying to confirm the area of the image and the extent."

Another tornado was reported south of Toledo, Ohio.

The twisters are part of a broader severe weather pattern that was expected to affect about 95 million people Thursday, including those in major cities such as Chicago and St. Louis.

Eight tornadoes were reported Wednesday in Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri, the Storm Prediction Center said.

The National Weather Service indicated a tornado may have touched down in the small town of Potosi, Missouri, about 70 miles from St. Louis.

More storms are expected in the Midwest, Mississippi River Valley, Tennessee River Valley and near the southern Great Lakes, the Weather Service said.

CNN's Lisa Emmanuel, Sean Morris and AnneClaire Stapleton contributed to this report.

I live just outside of Rochelle, that tornado's path brought it less than two miles from my house. I snapped this photo after it passed:

[Broomstick]

Yep, was definitely keeping an eye on the weather today. We've had two really thumping thunderstorms here, but no tornadoes (so far). My area is still under a severe thunderstorm watch and high wind advisory but the tornado watch has been cancelled.

Ah, spring in the Midwest....

And buddy, that does look like a funnel cloud to me.

[Borgholio]

Take care of yourself, Broomstick. If you got hurt by a tornado, that would...blow.

[Broomstick]

Always - although this time Executor32 was much closer to the action than I was. (I'll try not to get swept away by it all)

I've lived in/near Tornado Alley all of my life, for us, tornadoes are like earthquakes are to Californians. It's inherent to the region, you take what precautions you can, odds are you personally won't be significantly affected in a lifetime but it could happen.

I just can't help but contrast the situation today versus what it was when I was kid. We get so much more warning these days, real-time tracking of storms and tornadoes... it goes a long way to reducing death and accident totals.

Yesterday's twisters were pretty powerful, one fatality, apparently someone who either did not or could not get to safety in time. Still a few people unaccounted for, but since a dozen or so were trapped in basements it may just be a matter of finding them and getting the debris off their shelter, or finding out where they spent the night.

[Borgholio]

In some ways I'd almost prefer living in your area. Yeah I'm used to earthquakes...I've woken up under the desk before having enough muscle memory to dive under there while sleeping during a quake. But the thing is, we have no warning. At least with a tornado you have, as you said, radar and storm tracking to see these things coming from miles away. You can have time to get to safety. I wish we had even 5 minutes warning before a quake...

[Broomstick]

See, that's the difference between when I was a kid and now -back then, you were lucky to have five minutes warning, sirens didn't go off until AFTER a tornado was on the ground and causing damage, and you relied on looking at the sky, mostly.

Now, the tell you a day or two in advance conditions will favor these storms so you can get mentally ready, then they give you a freaking half an hour notice, or even tell you to the minute when a funnel cloud is expected to cross a particular intersection or road.

Yeah, I wish we had that for earthquakes.

[Broomstick]

Looks like the fatalities are up to two now, another woman found in her home, in her bathroom, which was where she was apparently attempting to shelter from the storm. Her home was located right next to the home of the other fatality.

[Executor32]

My boss and I took our drone out earlier and got some footage of a few of the most-damaged areas, which you can find here on his Google Drive. The first two videos are of Grubsteakers and the houses that were nearby. I say 'were' because they were directly in the path of the tornado and were completely obliterated. The third is of Fairdale, the town where the fatalities occurred. Most of the town was destroyed, and not a single building escaped damage. The final video and the pictures are of a house northwest of Rochelle, which the tornado took out on the way to Grubsteakers.

[Executor32]

Watching the local news now, the NWS has determined it was an EF4. Also, apparently Fairdale had no tornado sirens.

[Broomstick]

Fairdale was a very small town, wasn't it?

These days, TV, radio, and phones give warning as well as sirens (even my stupidphone has reverse 911 and severe weather alerts). I'm wondering if the two fatalities lived in homes without basements?

[Executor32]

Quite. Despite living only about fifteen miles away, I'd never even heard of Fairdale before last week. I took this shot of the cleanup there yesterday which shows just how small the town is:



As for the fatalities, one of the women who died simply didn't make it to her basement in time, though her husband did (poor guy, I can't imagine what he's going through right now), and the other was found huddled in her bathtub, I'm assuming because she had no basement. They lived right across the street from each other, too.

[Elheru Aran]

That's not a town. That's a fucking postage stamp. It's a wonder the tornado didn't just wipe the whole thing off the map. Looks like it made a pretty decent effort, though.

[Broomstick]

150 residents. Clearly an old-style farm town. They probably just didn't have the money for an emergency siren system.