Storm chaser Scott Lasker was documenting damage in Streator, Illinois, about 100 miles southwest of Chicago, on Thursday when he heard a woman screaming for help, he told CBS News Chicago. Running toward the sound, he found a man trapped beneath what had been his home. Lasker began prying at the rubble, and the woman used his camera to continue filming as he worked.
“I gave him a little comfort and then the police showed up,” Lasker told CBS. Police officers ultimately freed the man, Lasker said. Lasker works as a video journalist in addition to chasing storms.
The tornadoes began Thursday afternoon across the U.S. Midwest. By the end of the night, at least a dozen tornado reports were documented in Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin.
Streator, a city of about 12,000, was among the areas hit hardest. Mayor Tara Bedei said no deaths were recorded in the city, but video footage showed extensive damage. The storms left hundreds of thousands of people without power across the region.
Air traffic controllers at Chicago’s Midway Airport evacuated their control tower because of a tornado warning, and thousands of flights were delayed or canceled. The MLB game between the Chicago White Sox and the Atlanta Braves was postponed because of the severe weather.
The preliminary count of tornadoes across the United States in May was 168, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.