Crete, Dyer officials say tornadoes damaged some homes

Crete Village President Michael Einhorn watched the funnel cloud, moving up and down, pass directly over his house.

“It kind of did a hopscotch type of thing,” he said. His home wasn’t damaged.

A few houses were damaged by falling trees, but most of the storm damage amounted to trees falling onto roads, Einhorn said. Some branches fell onto power lines along Sangamon Street, causing a brief power outage.

“We were really lucky that the good Lord was watching over our town and chose to have the tornado, for the most part, pass over us,” Einhorn said.

The EF0 tornado, with peak winds of 70 mph, touched down at 2:06 p.m. Saturday near Old Monee Road and Sangamon Street and traveled northeast across town for 4.1 miles, the National Weather Service reported Tuesday. The 100-yard-wide twister dissipated at 2:12 p.m. just west of state Route 394.

Almost all of the damage in Dyer, Indiana, was fallen trees, and almost no homes faced serious harm, Dyer Director of Public Works Jeff Dzurovcak said.

“We are still cleaning them up right now. There are still trees on the side of the road, but we were able to get them off of the main pathway,” Dzurovcak said Tuesday, three days after the tornado.

An EF0 tornado with top winds of 75 mph touched down in Dyer at 1:29 p.m. Saturday near 81st and Sheffield avenues. The 250-yard-wide twister cut a path 3.3 miles northeast to the western edge of Schererville, Indiana, where it dissipated at 1:34 p.m. just south of U.S. 30.

In all, four tornadoes were confirmed in northern Illinois and northwest Indiana over the weekend, the worst being near Danforth in Iroquois County.

An EF1 tornado, with winds of 95 mph, touched down near Danforth at 8:06 p.m. Friday, stripping metal from houses, tearing shingles from roofs, and damaging a large grain silo, National Weather Service meteorologist Rafal Ogorek said. It was on the ground for 5 minutes and traveled 1.5 miles.

Near Chatsworth, in Livingston County, an EF0 tornado touched down at 4:36 p.m. With top winds of 85 mph, the twister was on the ground for 0.7 miles, according to the weather service.

“The Chatsworth tornado had a little more structural damage than the other two [Saturday tornadoes],” Ogorek said. “It caused damage to the roof of some houses and blew over a camper.”

Courtesy of the National Weather Service