PHILADELPHIA -- Severe weather that pounded the Midwest and spawned tornadoes shifted Tuesday to the East Coast, where tornado warnings were issued in several states and rainstorms were strong enough to stop train service.
The National Weather Service issued a tornado watch for much of southern New England, and strong thunderstorms in Connecticut caused widespread power failures.
Storms moving into Philadelphia on Tuesday evening blackened the sky and temporarily halted commuter trains beginning at rush hour. Amtrak suspended its Northeast Corridor and Keystone services from Washington through Philadelphia and on to Harrisburg, Pa., but it restored service about two hours later.
The heat also was a problem. Several people were treated for heat-related sickness at a high school graduation in southern New Jersey, where temperatures were in the high 80s.
Strong storms that swept across northern Illinois spawned tornadoes, severely damaged homes and forced first responders to pull survivors from basements, officials said Tuesday.
At least four tornadoes also hit parts of Michigan late Monday and early Tuesday, and possible tornadoes went through northern Indiana and Iowa. The storms knocked out power to thousands of people, but by Tuesday morning, the skies had cleared and the rain had moved east.
Particularly hard hit Monday night was a private camping resort in Sublette, Ill., a community about 100 miles west of Chicago. Five people were hurt, and one was hospitalized with serious injuries. The National Weather Service confirmed an EF2 tornado, meaning it had winds between 111 mph and 135 mph.
Fire Chief Kevin Schultz said damage was worse than anticipated, spread across about 700 acres of the Woodhaven Association resort.
"At this point in time, the best words to describe it is 'decimated,'" Schultz said Tuesday morning. "There are trailers that are in trees. There are trailers that are upside down. ... It is the worst thing I've ever seen."
Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner deployed the 80-member Illinois Task Force 1 search-and-rescue team Tuesday morning and said at a news conference that he was concerned out-of-towners may be hurt or trapped and wouldn't be reported missing.
About 70 miles southeast of the camping resort, another confirmed EF2 tornado raked Coal City about 10 p.m. Monday and damaged several subdivisions. Authorities said five people suffered minor injuries and everyone was accounted for in the city of about 5,000 people, but crews planned to conduct a secondary search Tuesday.
The Illinois Emergency Management Agency was gathering information on the extent of the storm damage in the area. Rauner also issued a state disaster proclamation for Lee and Grundy counties to make state resources available for recovery.
"It's a miracle, frankly, when you see the devastation, that there were no deaths and no life-threatening injuries," Rauner said after viewing the damage by helicopter.
In Michigan, severe thunderstorms damaged homes and caused power failures. More than 50 homes, as well as a church and other buildings, were damaged by a tornado Monday in Portland, about 25 miles northwest of Lansing. And the National Weather Service said one tornado hit about 1:30 a.m. Tuesday near Manchester, southwest of Ann Arbor.
Garrett Macomber told The Ann Arbor News that his farm was among those damaged.
"It was a ridiculous amount of wind," he said. "It felt like the whole house was lifting off its foundation."
Information for this article was contributed by Jason Keyser of The Associated Press.
A Section on 06/24/2015