(NewsNation) — At least one tornado touched down in the Chicago area Wednesday evening when a band of thunderstorms rolled through northern Illinois.
The National Weather Service issued tornado warnings Wednesday evening in multiple counties, including Cook County, which encompasses the city of Chicago. Warnings were also issued in parts of Indiana.
The NWS reported a tornado touched down near O’Hare International Airport just after 7 p.m. local time. O’Hare is 17 miles from downtown Chicago and is the sixth busiest airport in the world.
There were no immediate reports of injuries.
Heavy rain and storms moved through the Chicagoland area Wednesday evening, NewsNation affiliate WGN reported.
The National Weather Service issued two tornado warnings for portions of the city Wednesday evening. Tornado sirens sounded at least twice across Chicago, warning people to take cover and ringing through the city’s buildings, WGN reported.
Lynn Becker, a longtime Chicago resident, posted video to Twitter with the sirens sounding out across the city’s iconic skyline.
Brett Borchardt, senior meteorologist with the National Weather Service, confirmed to WGN that multiple tornadoes touched down across the Chicago area, though it is too early to tell just how many.
Borchardt said the NWS assessing the damage across the area to determine which localities were worse hit. The surveying of damage will likely take days.
“This is a relatively rare event for our area, especially in the month of July,” Borchardt said. “A lot of unique things had to come together and it’s one of those situations that we really couldn’t see until it was just coming to together. A lot of dominos really have to fall in the wrong direction.”
NewsNation affiliate WGN-TV contributed to this report.