4 Killed as Twisters Rake Illinois

A severe storm spawning tornadoes cut a swath through several Illinois counties Tuesday, killing at least four people, tearing the roof off an elementary school and collapsing buildings, authorities said.

The deaths were confirmed by state officials; a state trooper earlier had said four people were missing in the wreckage of a collapsed tavern in Utica.

Four other people in the area, including three children, were hospitalized with injuries, officials said.

Violent storms also ripped through central Indiana, injuring at least two people.

In the Chicago suburb of Joliet, City Manager John Mezera said a roof had collapsed at a drugstore. In Granville, about 60 homes were damaged and a bank lost its roof when three suspected tornadoes passed through Putnam County, officials said.

The hardest hit among the cities appeared to be Utica, a community of 1,000 residents 90 miles southwest of Chicago.

Dozens of buildings were damaged, several of them collapsed in mounds of brick and splintered wood, said State Trooper Tim Reppin.

Under generator-powered lights, police, firefighters and emergency crews worked through the night, pulling away debris from collapsed buildings in search of anyone who might still be trapped.

In Indiana, a tornado was reported near Jamestown, 25 miles northwest of Indianapolis.

“There’s quite a few homes damaged and a garage that’s completely gone,” said Wayne Henry, Jamestown superintendent of utilities.

Alden Taylor, a spokesman for the Indiana Emergency Management Agency, said a tornado apparently touched down near a Chrysler plant in Kokomo.