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Storms Drive Twisters Into Chicago Suburbs, Wisconsin

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The Associated Press

Published: June 8, 2008

FRANKLIN, Ind. - Severe storms flooded central Indiana with as much as 10 inches of rain and spawned damaging tornadoes in Wisconsin and Chicago's southern suburbs on Saturday.

The floods in Indiana threatened dams, inundated highways and forced the Coast Guard to rescue residents from swamped homes. And though flooding was a problem wherever the storms blew through, forecasters were especially concerned about a large, slow-moving tornado tearing through suburban Chicago.

Wisconsin had a few minor tornado injuries, though none were immediately reported near Chicago. And Indiana had been spared any reported deaths or injuries due to flooding.

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels declared an emergency in 10 counties as the Coast Guard was called in from the Great Lakes to help with flooding that has forced hundreds of people from their homes.

Ninety percent of the small town of Paragon, southwest of Indianapolis, was underwater, State Homeland Security Director Joe Wainscott said.
Indiana State Police reported evacuations in the Lake Lemon area about 10 miles northeast of Bloomington. Dams near Gold Point were close to collapse, police said.

Interstate 70 was closed in Clay County in west-central Indiana, and Interstate 65 and another major route, U.S. 31, both were closed near Franklin.

Residents of Helmsburg, a town of about 6,000 just 40 miles south of Indianapolis, were taken by bus to a YMCA in Nashville, said Wayne Freeman, Brown County Red Cross chairman.

Near Chicago, Will County Sheriff's Department spokesman Pat Barry said a tornado damaged several homes in the Wilmington area and toppled trees and power lines. Tornadoes were also reported in Lake County, north of the city, and in Livingston County, to the southwest.

A person was injured on Interstate 57 in the southern suburbs, and a swath of the major highway was closed as authorities worked to clear overturned trucks, state Trooper Mark Dorencz said.

Central and southeastern Wisconsin were pelted with baseball-size hail in a storm that blew roofs off homes, toppled trees and power lines, and injured at least six people.

Flooding built up around Milwaukee, where water as deep as 2 feet in roads caused parked cars to drift and closed parts of an interstate highway.

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