A line of tornadoes and fast-moving, powerful storms slammed the American Midwest, killing at least five people and destroying scores of homes.  Hardest hit is the small town of Washington in Central Illinois, near Peoria and about 170 miles southwest of Chicago. 

“We have reports of homes being flattened, roofs being torn off,” said county official Sara Sparkman, “We have actual whole neighborhoods being demolished by the storm.”

Cars were also tossed asunder, the sheet metal being torn right off of more than a few.  Trees that are still standing are stripped of their remaining leaves and branches.  At least 31 people were hurt in Washington, Illinois, eight of them seriously. 

As the storms ploughed through Illinois and on to Indiana and Kentucky, items were sucked into the vortex and deposited back on the ground, in some cases more than a kilometers away.  Some letters from a mailbox in Washington found their way to the backyard of a resident of a Chicago suburb, 150 kilometers to the northeast.

The storm also forced the Chicago Bears football team to halt their game against the Baltimore Ravens at the venerable Soldier Field, and evacuate fans to shelter as the storm roared in.  Chicago's two major airports also briefly stopped traffic.