Just one day after four additional tornadoes tore through Chicago, Illinois, the Canadian capital of Ottawa was pummelling by one.
Both cities had significant property and tree damage as a result of the extreme weather, but fortunately no serious injuries to local residents.
Yesterday about 12.45 p.m. local time, a tornado landed in Barrhaven, a suburb located 17 kilometres southwest of downtown Ottawa, damaging 125 homes and knocking out electricity in 1,600 more.
Broken windows, downed trees, and roof shingles were among the reported damages.
The previous day fierce winds from suspected tornadoes ripped off roofs and took down trees across Illinois, including in Chicago.
Sirens also sent residents scrambling for safety.
On Wednesday, the US National Weather service warned a tornado was on the ground near Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport.
Passengers took shelter and the storm grounded hundreds of flights, but there were no immediate reports of injuries.
The storm then moved on to Michigan, before reaching Canada.
Ty Carr, a resident of the Skyline Motel in McCook, Illinois, said a tornado tore off the roof.
‘Just chaos,’ Carr said, cradling a toddler as he spoke to reporters in the region. ‘It was really fast, and the noises and the crackling and the wind – it was just something I’ve never seen or been through, you know?’
Rajan Patel, whose family owns the motel, said his family came to the Chicago area in the 1990s with nothing, and now their motel has been seriously damaged.
‘The entire place is ruined,’ Patel said. ‘I don’t know, man. I don’t know how to recover anything. I don’t know.’
The weather service posted a map on social media showing several areas where tornadoes are believed to have touched down, noting that they were spawned by rotating thunderstorms known as supercells.
Hillary Timpe, a resident of a suburb southwest of Chicago called Countryside, said homes and trees in the area were damaged by the tornado, but thankfully no one was hurt.
She added: ‘When the winds kicked up really hard, really fast, and I’m like, ‘Basement — now! Grab the dog, let’s go!’ And it wasn’t more than a couple seconds after that, that got really crazy.’
The storm moved through fast, her husband Greg said.
‘It really left as quick as it came,’ he said. ‘It was maybe 10, 20 seconds, and it was out of here, and all this.’
The tornadoes hit the same week as devastating storms left other parts of the US severely flooded.
There were several flash-floods in Mississippi yesterday with reports of people being rescued from their homes.
Photos show water reaching the windows of homes and cars and flooding businesses.
Earlier in the week severe flooding also hit Hudson Valley in New York state, where a women drowned trying to rescue her dog, as well as Vermont.
No casualties or injuries were reported in Vermont, but at least 117 people were rescued by boat as rising floodwaters overwhelmed city streets.