CHICAGO — Efforts to clean up are in full swing across the Chicago area following a series of powerful thunderstorms on Thursday that resulted in at least two confirmed tornadoes.
The National Weather Service has announced plans to dispatch teams on Friday to assess the damage in several key locations, including Streator, Naperville, Bartlett, and areas in Northwest Indiana.
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These intense storms have caused widespread power outages throughout the region. As of early Friday morning, ComEd reported that over 148,683 of their customers were left without electricity.
In Northwest Indiana, utility provider NIPSCO revealed that more than 61,952 customers are experiencing power disruptions.
SEE ALSO: Track power outages in your area with the ABC7 Chicago Power Outage Tracker
Due to these outages, the courthouses in Markham and Bridgeview will remain closed on Friday.
The town of Streator said eleven homes were damaged, with some completely destroyed.
Four people were transported to hospitals with non-life threatening injuries, officials said.
There are downed power lines, debris scattered all over and it’s been a difficult scene to take in for people living here as they now turn their focus to starting over.
One neighborhood near north 12th Road is eerily quiet as homes are demolished and people had to leave everything behind as they get help from the Red Cross and their neighbors.
“We got a second chance some people don’t,” Alice Schultz, who survived the tornado, said.
Schultz lives right across street from the neighborhood that appears to have suffered the most damage.
Her home was damaged by a tornado in 2010 and this time around she sheltered in place with her family as their home came out OK. But the same can’t be said for their neighbors.
“I told my kids I feel very blessed I watched some of the homes down here I just feel very blessed,” Schultz said.
One man was found in a pile of rubble at a home and a camera caught the moment first responders arrived to help.
“That’s the two people I was worried about,” Schultz said. “ComEd came up and I said you gotta check those people because I know there’s only two of them there.”
The Red Cross is set up at St. Paul’s evangelical Lutheran church on Broadway for anyone who needs assistance.
IN northwest Indiana, heavy damage was reported in Merrilllville.
People on 58th Avenue and Massachusetts Street are just thankful no one was hurt as they grapple with the devastation the storms left behind.
“Roof is gone, water, fence, windows bust,” homeowner Dr. Maria Williams said.
Dr. Williams said there’s not much left of the Merrillville home where she raised her five children after severe storms rolled through parts of Illinois and northwest Indiana.
Almost every home along 58th avenue and Massachusetts street was damaged by the gusting winds. There are downed power lines and downed trees blocking streets and sidewalks.
While there haven’t been any serious reports of injuries, many said they hid in their basements and bathrooms while the storms raged and feel grateful to be alive.
“It was definitely one of the scariest five minutes of my and my kids’ lives,” Diamond Harrison, whose home was damaged, said. “The way it swept a lot of elderly people on the block came together as a community at the end of the night. But everybody was safe.”
Residents there still don’t have any power and expect it may be awhile.
Residents are banding together to help one another, but say they can always use more.
At Andrean High School in Merrillville, their entire campus, including the score board has been impacted by the storm.
A maintenance worker worked all night to clear debris from campus, much of it in the road. But as the principal said, one part of the school was miraculously left untouched.
“This is our grotto, this is kind of a special place for all of our students and staff It is kind of a serene garden area more than anything and it’s one of the few areas of campus that was really spared,” the principal said. “None of the candles have been impacted or destroyed. Most of our windows are blown out. The roof is damaged. I don’t think there is a tree that isn’t impacted. The grotto is here. The cross in the front, the crucifix is here, our mosaic is here, the chapel is untouched, so anything that’s religious, seems to have been protect.”
An Andrean employee named James was out assessing the damage Friday morning.
“I just think about the kids,” he said. “They are supposed to be here for practice and summer is starting and sports and school is starting in a couple of months.”
James said they are going to need tarps for the school as well as prayers.
“It’s a special place and we are going to rebuild and make it better,” he said.
In Hobart to support people impacted by the storm.
Crews were seen working overnight to clear out some of the downed trees near third Street and Lake Park Avenue.
The shelter is at the police complex gym on 704 east Fourth street in Hobart.
Just west of Hobart, in the Dyer, Saint John, Indiana area, more trees were uprooted and in some cases, sewage pipes and electrical lines were also pulled up.
According to town officials, multiple agencies from as far as Illinois are assisting as first responders search and assess the damage.
Officials want to remind the community to stay clear of any fallen utility lines or damaged utility poles.
In Chicago in the West Lawn neighborhood,
This is near 62nd and Lawndale in the West Lawn neighborhood.
It appears part of the roof of the Saint Nicholas of Tolentine School near 62nd Street and Lawndale Avenue may have been torn off.
Radar clocking winds of up to 100 miles-an-hour on the city’s South Side Thursday night
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