ELBURN – Frank and Dolores Hudkins' house, on the 3N400 block of Route 47, became ground zero for a tornado that blew through west central Kane County Wednesday night.
"It just hit and busted all the trees down and kept on rolling," Hudkins said. "It did not hurt the house. All three of my cars had to be towed away. Across the road, the wind dropped trees through my neighbor's roof and farther south, knocked down more trees."
Storm spotters reported the twister about 6 p.m. to the National Weather Service, said meteorologist Paul Merzlock.
He said the tornado's winds were at 105 miles an hour causing damage such as downed trees and power lines.
"It came with a storm that moved from Elburn north paralleling Route 47," Merzlock said. "It touched down a mile north of downtown Elburn about 40 yards wide, went on the ground for one mile with some – but not huge – damage."
As the storm continued up Route 47 and the Elburn tornado lifted, another weaker tornado touched down near Lily Lake with a width of 30 yards. The second twister moved 1.5 miles along the ground, with winds at 80 miles an hour, Merzlock said.
It was all over in a few minutes. The tornado developed from thunderstorms with rapidly rising air spinning in different directions, he said.
The wind at ground level spun east southeast and the wind 3,000 to 4,000 feet above it spun south southwest causing rotations that turned into a tornado.
Tornados are rated by intensity on the Enhanced Fujita scale from zero to five, he said using wind estimates based on damage. The Elburn tornado is rated an EF-1 and the Lily Lake tornado an EF-0.
The more fiercely destructive tornados are rated EF-5 and 6, he said.
Meteorologist Edward Fenelon said the Elburn and Lily Lake tornados were among four confirmed in Illinois and Indiana on Wednesday, all part of a big storm system that covered an eight-state region.
