EF2 tornado in Will County, Illinois

A tornado with estimated peak winds of 130 mph which touched down in Grundy County and crossed into Will County between Lauren Drive and Old Kerry Grove Road. The tornado was likely at its maximum path width of 325 yards as it was crossing into Will County. Several trees and utility poles were blown down in this area. Some homes suffered minor roof damage just west of McKinley Woods Road. Peak wind speeds of 90 mph were estimated in this area. The tornado crossed Durkee Road and increased to its peak intensity of 130 mph as it moved across Interstate 55. In this area, two metal trusses collapsed which caused several high tension power lines to fall across Interstate 55. When these high tension lines fell, two semi trucks hit the lines and crashed into each other. Five other vehicles were involved and stuck under and between the high tension lines. Two people were injured and another person had to wait several hours before it was safe to exit their car. Interstate 55 was closed until the morning of July 18th while the high tension lines were repaired and debris was removed. Just west of Interstate 55, several parked semi trucks and trailers were overturned and an office building suffered significant roof damage. A pickup truck was flipped over and a van was blown onto its side. Significant damage to trees, utility poles and power lines also occurred in this area. The tornado continued moving northeast and produced significant tree and utility pole damage along and south of Manhattan Road, just west of Route 53, including damage to mature oak trees and several utility poles snapped along Munch Lane. Several homes in this area suffered roof damage consisting of numerous shingles removed. The tornado moved through the Ranch Oaks subdivision just west of Route 52 and south of Jackson Creek causing widespread tree and power line damage. Some trees fell onto houses, other trees fell onto cars. Significant tree damage continued as the tornado crossed Route 52. At least one house suffered structural damage when a large tree fell on it. Roof damage occurred to several large farm storage buildings as the tornado crossed Baker Road just west of Eastern Avenue. Tree damage continued along the rest of the path of the tornado in Will County with the tornado crossing Route 45 and then several trees were snapped and uprooted near the Prestwick Country Club. The tornado crossed Harlem Avenue and moved into Cook County.

A derecho moved across northern Illinois during the evening of July 15th producing widespread wind damage and 30 tornadoes in northeast Illinois. One of these tornadoes crossed into northwest Indiana. At the height of the storms, 430,000 customers lost power with some power not restored for four days, on July 19th.