By John Dodge
CHICAGO (CBS) — For nearly 90 minutes, Walker Ashley followed the violent storms that pulverized northern Illinois on Thursday evening.
READ MORE: Nearly 17,000 Unemployment Claims Filed In Illinois Last Week Amid COVID-19 PandemicOne tornado flattened the towns of Fairdale and Rochelle.
Two people were killed, at least 20 others were sent to the hospital with injuries and others remain unaccounted.
Ashley is a professor in the meteorology program at Northern Illinois University.
Here is what he saw:
The two images (below) show the early formation of a tornado in Franklin Grove, Ill., about 10 miles to the west of Rochelle. At the time the photos were taken, the tornado was about one-minute old.
The photos (below) show the huge “wedge” tornado north of Rochelle, Ill., along Interstate 39, near State Road 64. Wedge tornadoes are relatively rare in Illinois.
