Martin Dean walked through a parking lot, illuminating with a small flashlight the jagged hole in his car’s window. Behind him lay the remnants of an apartment building, including long white pillars and sections of the roof, which the tornado had torn from their original places.

A few hours earlier, a tornado had struck Merrillville, a town in northwest Indiana. This area was one of several near Chicago affected by Thursday night’s tornadoes, concluding a two-day severe weather pattern that swept through the Midwest. Meteorologists from the National Weather Service began surveys on Friday to assess the damage and strength of these tornadoes.

According to Kevin Doom, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Chicago, the debris path through Merrillville is indicative of a probable tornado. Damage extends west towards St. John and northeast by Hobart. Further details on the number of tornadoes impacting Illinois and northwestern Indiana were expected later on Friday.

Other possible tornadoes touched down in Streator and Dwight in north-central Illinois and in southern Lake County, Indiana. After days of persistent storms, clear skies were forecasted for Friday, allowing residents to better understand the extent of the damage.

On Wednesday, weather officials received over a dozen tornado reports in northern Missouri, Iowa, Kansas, and Illinois. The storms disrupted power for hundreds of thousands and resulted in more than a thousand flight delays or cancellations at Chicago airports.

Thursday brought another round of severe weather. Alerts for floods, thunderstorms, high winds, and tornadoes were issued throughout the day. By evening, the White Sox canceled their game against the Atlanta Braves, and a Mumford & Sons concert at Wrigley Field faced delays.

Martin Dean, from Chicago’s South Side, was in Merrillville for work as an independent contractor when the storm approached. Staying at a friend’s apartment, he was about to shower when he heard the rumble and saw debris flying through the window. Unaware of the exact time, Dean noted he lost track once the tornado passed.

By nearly 11 p.m. Thursday, Dean assessed the damage outside. Debris, plastic panels, and broken tree branches covered parking spaces. The back windshield of a nearby car was absent, and a power line lay across Dean’s truck. Power outages persisted, leaving Dean to navigate in darkness. “This is terrible—it’s going to take a couple of days to clean this up,” he stated, knowing he had work early on Friday. Despite the chaos, he was relieved people were safe.

As daylight approached, Maria Williams stood outside her house, wearing blue scrubs. Her front yard was strewn with wooden debris, foam insulation, and a large uprooted tree. The roof, stripped away, exposed the home’s wooden frame.

“Four of my five kids grew up in this house,” said Williams, a psychiatric nurse practitioner in Chicago, holding back tears. She was uncertain about the possibility of rebuilding.

Her daughter, Kari Williams, 20, recounted the previous evening. She and her 12-year-old brother were watching Netflix, unaware of the impending storm. They heard the wind before realizing the tornado had hit.

“Both me and my brother got blown back,” Kari Williams said. Initial attempts to take shelter in the basement failed due to ceiling cracks, so they stayed with a neighbor overnight.

Upon receiving Kari’s call, Williams was consumed with concern, prioritizing her return over the upcoming work shift. Arriving in darkness without power, she couldn’t fully gauge the impact until morning.

“I don’t even know what to say. Words can’t even,” she said, grappling with the loss. “I worked so hard for the little bit I do … and it’s just, it’s just gone.”