A storm that may have produced a brief tornado Monday evening ripped through a McHenry neighborhood of townhomes on Evergreen Circle, stripping roofing and siding from a few units and tearing down fencing and a mature tree.

Cheryl Wise, president of the Evergreen Park Homeowner’s Association, said she was not aware of any injuries associated with the weather event, which hit about 5 p.m. Monday. McHenry police also said they did not hear of any injuries.

But high winds caused some property damage, she said, and crews were already working to repair some of the roofing torn from a unit near the Meijer and Home Depot stores on Blake Road. A mature tree was taken down in front of Wise’s unit.

“It’s quite startling,” she said.

Tim Schneider, a resident of the 2400 block of Evergreen Circle, was upstairs in his home when he heard the sound of rain hitting the window intensify and looked outside.

He said he saw “a cloud of debris” and ran downstairs. The townhomes do not have basements, Schneider said. He said he thought about trying to record the situation on his phone’s camera, but then decided to call emergency dispatchers to report a possible tornado.

Tornado sirens sounded once he made the call, he said.

[ Brief tornado touchdowns reported after watch issued for northern Illinois ]

“I just happened to look out to the west, and saw debris in the air, shingles in the air,” Schneider said. “By the time I got downstairs, I heard like a car wash. When the rubber things are hitting your car, that’s what it sounded like. I looked out my back window, and I just saw the funnel going up and the rotating wall cloud, and grabbed my phone and dialed 911 and called it in.”

He had never seen a tornado before, and said it was exciting to witness at first.

“And then my senses came to me, and I called 911 after the excitement kind of calmed down a little bit,” Schneider said.

McHenry police were dispatched to the area and said residents reported the damage caused by high winds. No injuries occurred, and officers did not observe the weather event.

The National Weather Service received multiple reports of tornadoes touching down throughout northern Illinois on Monday afternoon, including several in DeKalb County for which the service issued tornado warnings.

But Scott Lincoln, senior service hydrologist with the National Weather Service, said Tuesday was likely the earliest the service could possibly confirm whether a tornado touched down in the McHenry area.

“There have been quite a few reports and photos of tornadoes and funnel clouds across DeKalb County that moved on and sprung up in Kane County,” said Eric Lenning, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Chicago. “Multiple tornadoes are possible, but they could be part of the same storm, just being reported multiple times. We cannot say the exact number of tornadoes at this time, only that there appear to have been multiple tornadoes possible. We have to go out, visit the sites and conduct surveys in person tomorrow to verify the tornadoes.”

[ Tornado touch-down confirmed northeast of Clare, National Weather Service says ]

As much as 4 to 5 inches of rain were reported in parts of McHenry County and northern Illinois, leading some localized minor flooding and pooling of water on streets, fields and ditches in portions of McHenry and Boone counties.

Dennis Paschall, of Top Board-Up, the Fox Lake company that was working on the McHenry townhomes’ roofing after the storm cleared, said the damage would require minor repairs.

The threat of brief tornadoes in northern Illinois lingered as of 8 p.m., the National Weather Service said on Twitter.

“Storms with a history of producing brief tornadoes continue this evening. While storms have gradually been weakening, a few additional brief tornadoes may still occur. We’re also monitoring the potential for flooding as storms train over the same areas again & again,” the National Weather Service said in the tweet.

Daily Chronicle staff reporter Katrina Milton contributed to this report.