Two more tornadoes confirmed, brings Monday total to 7

The National Weather Service on Thursday confirmed two more tornadoes from Monday’s storms, bringing the total seven as Cook County issued a disaster proclamation due to the “significant damage and disruption” caused by the storms.

The county’s move frees up county resources to local municipalities, including funds, personnel and equipment such as generators, excavators and portable light towers, the county said in a statement Thursday. That’s in addition to debris removal and road-clearing; the county said it already has been working with 15 towns and villages that were in the path of the storms.

Residents impacted have until August 5 to take the Cook County Resident Damage Survey online to report damages and possibly receive assistance.

It comes as the weather service said Hazel Crest and Lansing saw EF-1 tornadoes, while Glen Ellyn, Wheaton, Downers Grove, Orland Park and Romeoville — where NWS has its nearest office to the city — saw EF-0 tornadoes.

Eastern Will County saw straight-line winds of up to 100 mph, and eastern Lake County, Illinois, saw up to 90 mph winds, which could potentially have been tornadoes. However, the weather service said it was “unable to confirm additional tornadoes at this time.”

“There may have been additional brief tornadoes in southern Cook County and into northwest Indiana along the northern side of an expansive surge of extreme straight-line winds,” the service said in a statement.

Four of the tornadoes touched down in the south and west suburbs.

Lansing was hit by one, while another traveled through Country Club Hills, Hazel Crest, Harvey and Homewood with gusts up to 110 mph, according to the weather service. Two other confirmed tornadoes touched down in Glen Ellyn and Orland Park, each with winds reaching 85 mph.

An EF-0 tornado also touched down just south of Wheaton College with 75 mph winds surrounded by straight-line thunderstorm winds, according to the weather service. Midway Airport recorded winds of 73 mph and O’Hare Airport saw 65 mph winds that night.

A much stronger EF-3 tornado touched down further north in the Fox Cities region of Wisconsin — about 100 miles north of Milwaukee — at around 1 p.m. and remained on the ground for more than 20 minutes, cutting a roughly 12-mile path of destruction, the weather service reported.

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