Tornadoes Cause Widespread Damage Across Midwest

Powerful winds and reported tornadoes caused extensive damage across the Midwest on Friday night into Saturday morning. The storms tore off roofs, uprooted trees, and rendered rural roads impassable with debris in Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Oklahoma, and Kansas.

The National Weather Service said that surveys of the affected areas would be conducted over the weekend to confirm if tornadoes caused the damage. No deaths were reported following Friday's storms. Officials braced residents for a long recovery in some rural communities.

In central Wisconsin, a reported tornado tore through the cities of Kronenwetter and Ringle, leaving behind damaged homes and some residents briefly trapped in their basements, according to Ringle Fire Chief Chris Kielman. Marathon County Sheriff Chad Billeb said he had not seen this much devastation during his 34 years in law enforcement.

In Olmsted County, Minnesota, sheriff's officials said tornadoes caused 'multiple levels' of damage. At least 30 homes were damaged in Marion Township, with a number of those sustaining significant structural damage. Personnel from Minnesota Homeland Security and Emergency Management conducted door-to-door checks on residents.

The storms also affected communities from the Great Lakes to Texas. Over 70,000 customers in the Midwest and Great Lakes regions are without power according to tracking site PowerOutage.us. Most of the outages are in Illinois and Missouri.