UPDATED 7:10 a.m.
(AP) – Major storms whipped up tornadoes in parts of Illinois and Indiana that leveled homes, killing at least two people and injuring others, and another round of rain, hail and strong winds made its way through the region Wednesday, authorities said.
“Please do not come here. Do not try to help right now,” Newton County Sheriff Shannon Cothran said in a video update in front of what looked to be a destroyed home in the small northwestern Indiana community of Lake Village.
The deaths in Lake Village were confirmed by Laurie Postma, a spokeswoman for the Lake Township Fire Department, at a news conference held by the sheriff, state police and local authorities Wednesday. Their names were not released.
She said fewer than 10 people were hurt in Tuesday’s storms, which also knocked down trees and power lines.
Multiple homes in the community were destroyed in an apparent tornado, and Indiana State Police Cpl. Eric Rot said people had been injured. He wasn’t able to provide an exact number or their conditions.
David Ferris, a paramedic in a neighboring county who lives in Lake Village, just south of the area that was hit, said he, his wife, and their dogs “rode it out in our downstairs bathtub.” They were unscathed, except for losing power. He went out to help with rescue efforts and helped people who suffered cuts, scrapes and bumps to the head.
“We had another house where a guy crawled out,” Ferris told The Associated Press in an interview. “He was having some trouble breathing because he was covered in house insulation.”
Ferris said the local Family Dollar store was destroyed, as well as a gas station across the street. He said multiple large trees were uprooted.
Severe storms dumping rain and hail in parts of the Midwest were threatened to bring intense tornadoes, damaging winds and very large hail from the southern Plains to the southern Great Lakes, according to the National Weather Service. Parts of Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio were under a tornado watch Wednesday morning.
Several tornadoes formed across northeastern Illinois and northwestern Indiana, but the exact number won’t be available until officials conduct damage surveys, said Andrew Lyons, a meteorologist with the weather service Storm Prediction Center.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said in a post on the social platform X that he’d been briefed on the storm and tornado damage.
“Keeping in our thoughts all Illinoisans impacted by the severe weather — we’ll be here to help them recover,” he said.
A tornado struck down near the Kankakee fairgrounds, about 57 miles (92 kilometers) south of Chicago, before traveling northeast into Aroma Park, where it caused extensive damage, according to the Kankakee County Sheriff’s Office. No injuries have been reported.
“I want to remind area residents to check on their neighbors and loved ones but to avoid unnecessary travel, if at all possible,” Kankakee County Sheriff Mike Downey said in a statement.
In video shared on social media, the twister is seen ripping across a field of farmland near an airport while vehicles lined the road.
More than 2 million Americans were at a moderate risk of severe weather in Illinois and Indiana. Nearly 22 million were at a slightly lesser risk in a zone that includes Chicago, Fort Worth, Texas, and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
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Associated Press journalist Hannah Schoenbaum contributed from Salt Lake City.
