Deadly thunderstorms and tornados swept through the Midwest Sunday, damaging homes in at least three central Illinois communities, sending dozens of people to local hospitals with minor injuries, leaving thousands without power and forcing officials to briefly evacuate the stands during a Chicago Bears football game.Officials confirmed five deaths in storm-related incidents, according to the Associated Press.
As a cold front surged through the region Sunday morning, the fast-moving system put about 53 million people in 10 states "at significant risk for thunderstorms and tornados," according to the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla.
By late-afternoon Sunday, the weather service center had received 76 reports of tornado sightings, 184 reports of severe winds and 40 reports of hailstorms that pelted the region with hailstones as big as golf balls. One tornado was tracked moving at more than 60 miles per hour.
"It is a very unusual situation and unfortunately a lot of damage," said Bill Bunting, forecast operations chief at the storm prediction center. Such November tornado outbursts are rare and occur only once every decade or so, he said. "This is not what we normally associate with autumn."
Hardest hit were the Illinois towns of East Peoria, Gifford and Washington, in all home to about 40,000 people, according to weather-service accounts, news reports and emergency-management bulletins. Storm damage was also reported in Missouri, Kentucky and Indiana. The storm front was expected to move into southern New England during the night.
Weather service officials said it may be days before the full scope of the damage was known.