Severe Weather Pummels Midwest

(AP) – At least three tornadoes have battered communities outside Chicago, leveling homes and ripping down trees and power poles. Storms have also grounded flights and knocked out power for hundreds of thousands across the Midwest and Northeast on Thursday. The large column of air swept through Merrillville, Indiana, a town about 33 miles southeast of Chicago. Meanwhile, the nearby manufacturing and farm city of Streator, Illinois, has set up a family reunification center for displaced residents in its city hall as officials took stock of the major damage. The National Weather Service says tornado warnings were also in place in Chicago and in parts of Indiana and Michigan.