Illinois, Indiana Battered by Storms : Weather: Three people are killed, five hurt when tornadoes touch down. The destruction was part of a second day of violent winds in the Great Plains.

Thunderstorms battered the Midwest on Saturday, spawning tornadoes that killed three people in Illinois and Indiana, injured at least five, and demolished dozens of homes and other buildings.

The harsh weather came on the heels of a day of violent winds in the Great Plains, where 30 twisters were reported Friday. In one area of West Texas, residents cleaned up from a tornado that killed two people, injured 10 and caused a poisonous gas leak.

Tornadoes touched down across Indiana late Saturday, the National Weather Service said. Police reported homes were knocked off their foundations, electric transformers were toppled and semi-trucks were blown off roads.

Much of southern Indiana was without power Saturday night, authorities said.

Three tornadoes hit the small community of Bedford, killing at least two people and trapping others in their homes, police said.

In Petersburg, a town of 3,000 about 50 miles southwest, a tornado caused damage described as extensive. Police said most of the businesses in the downtown section were damaged and a nursing home had to be evacuated.

Heavy thunderstorms slashed a half-dozen counties in the southeastern quarter of Illinois on Saturday.

A tornado touched down in Findlay, causing extensive damage and leaving parts of the town of 800 without power, said a volunteer firefighter, Marsha Allen.

“We have 11 homes destroyed, 25 more homes damaged and one trailer destroyed,” she said. “There are two confirmed injuries.”

Lynn Bobo, of the Illinois Emergency Services and Disaster Agency, said a factory near Albion “sustained extensive damage” from high winds. Bobo said several other homes and farm buildings in the affected area of the state suffered wind damage as well.

A woman was killed in Browns when a tornado skirted the rural community, police said.

“We have 30 homes destroyed and extensive damage in Newton,” Bobo said. She said at least three people were hurt in the town of about 3,200.

The severe weather stretched from the Great Lakes region to Texas.

In western Texas south of Midland, residents of rural Upton County were cleaning up after a tornado Friday night that touched off a series of traffic accidents as it crossed a road, killing two people. It also damaged seven houses, injuring 10 people.

The twister knocked open several wellheads in neighboring Pecos County, causing a leak of poisonous, foul-smelling hydrogen sulfide gas.

Workers from Marathon Oil Co. early Saturday capped the wellheads. There were no evacuations because no one lives in the immediate area.

In Felton, Minn., cleanup crews and residents removed trees and other debris left behind by a twister that roared across the northwestern part of the state Friday night.

Jerry Steinbach said the funnel cloud came within 60 feet of his house.

“It was the funniest thing I’ve ever seen. It stripped the paint off the side of the house,” Steinbach said.