Multiple storms moved across the region Thursday evening. They triggered severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings in multiple counties, along with flood watches and flash flood warnings, and caused structure damage, injuries and power outages.
At one point, tornado watches covered all of northern Illinois as well as southern Wisconsin and Indiana. Multiple tornado warnings were issued in several instances. At least two tornadoes were confirmed visually on the ground in different storms, including one that moved through LaSalle County and Livingston Counties. Streator reported damage to many buildings as well as a number of injuries, but as of Friday no fatalities.
Besides tornadoes, the National Weather Service said the storms' main threats were damaging winds and lightning.
Severe thunderstorm warnings were issued during the evening for parts of DeKalb, Winnebago, Boone, McHenry and a number of other counties.
The storms led to widespread power outages affecting hundreds of thousands of residents. As of Friday evening, ComEd reported around 3,500 outages remained across northern Illinois, affecting nearly 94,000 customers.
Some storms produced heavy rain. Flash flood warnings were issued at one point for most counties along the Wisconsin border; all have expired. Flood warnings continue in a few places in northern Illinois through at least Friday night.
The NWS urged caution and reminded people to never drive or walk across flooded roads.