Strong storms were moving east early today after sweeping across parts of northern Illinois, where at least seven people were injured by severe weather that spawned several possible tornadoes, damaged homes and uprooted trees.

Particularly hard hit Monday night was Coal City, a community of approximately 5,000 residents in Grundy County, where the National Weather Service confirmed a twister touched down.

Terry Halliday, the mayor of Coal City, said a suspected tornado swept into town, first striking the high school before moving to the southeast over homes and damaging a fire station.

Throughout the night starting around 8:30 p.m. and lasting until about midnight, nasty storms and possible tornadoes were threatening Kankakee County, where sirens went off intermittenly from Manteno to Momence to Bourbonnais. No injuries were reported here and a possible tornado in Bourbonnais has not yet been confirmed by the fire chief there.

Michigan also saw stormy weather late Monday, when a storm damaged at least four homes near Millington. In Portland, near Lansing, five people had to be rescued from buildings after a tornado hit.

"We are early in the process of determining the level of damage," said Grundy County Emergency Management Director Joe Schroeder.

He noted that at least 30 buildings were affected, many of them in residential areas.

Grundy County Coroner John Callahan said there were no immediate reports of fatalities in Coal City. Fire officials said they believe everyone has been accounted for, but that a secondary search would be done during daylight Tuesday.

Roads in Coal City were blocked by fallen trees and power lines, Lt. David Doerfler of the Coal City Fire Protection District said.

Interstate 55 outside Coal City, which was hit by a tornado less than two years ago, also was shut down for hours due to downed power lines, according to Illinois State Police.

Farther west, high winds caused damage near the Lee County community of Sublette.

Lee County Sheriff John Simonton said firefighters and other emergency workers responded to reports of damage in Woodhaven Association, a private camping resort. There was lots of flooding and many trees down, including some that fell on association homes.

One person there was hospitalized with injuries that were serious but not life-threatening, and four others described as "walking wounded" were either treated on scene or refused treatment, said Sublette assistant Fire Chief Kevin Schultz. The injury total could still increase, Schultz said.

The Illinois Emergency Management Agency was gathering information on the extent of the storm damage.

Commonwealth Edison reported early Tuesday 14,000 customers were without power as a result of the storm. Ameren was reporting 1,000 customers lost power.

The scene in Coal City early this morning following the 9:20 p.m. storm was eerie. Dozens of departments from across the region were still pouring into town as late as 1 a.m. bringing ambulances, mobile command units and flood lights.

Side streets off Illinois Route 113 were blocked off. Will County Sheriff's deputies said the roads were impassable and included downed power lines.

Coal City High School was black, as was most of the town, as dozens of volunteers came in from places near, like Gardner, and far, like Plainfield, awaiting orders. Down the road in Diamond, which was devastated by a tornado in November 2013, parking lots became staging sites for emergency personnel.

By the time the heavy downpour ended, residents began walking down the main road, surveying the damage. 

"Coal City is our neighbor and when we had our tornado they were nothing but helpful," said Diamond Mayor Terry Kernc, who was busy making coffee at Diamond City Hall not far from where the storm damaged Coal City. "It's a really wonderful side of people that you see. But this is a really strong community