Two rounds of severe weather, beginning overnight on August 10 and culminating in a derecho on August 11, swept northeastern Illinois with the most widespread wind damage of the 2026 season. The National Weather Service has confirmed five tornadoes from the event, including an EF-2, embedded in a line that produced 70 to 100+ mph straight-line winds from the western suburbs into northwest Indiana. Roughly 357,000 ComEd customers lost power, and officials in the hardest-hit towns are still cataloging the damage.
If your home is anywhere in the south or southwest suburbs, or along the hail corridor in DuPage County, there is a short window where documenting damage is easiest and your claim is strongest. This post covers what the NWS has confirmed, which communities took the worst of it, and the steps to take this week. Track this and every 2026 event on our live storm map.
What Happened on August 10-11
Storms began overnight on August 10 with damaging wind, hail, and flooding rain, and a second, stronger round organized into a derecho on August 11. The NWS Chicago event summary documents swaths of widespread 70 to locally 100+ mph straight-line winds across northeastern Illinois into northwest Indiana.
The measured gusts tell the story: 97 mph in Sugar Grove, 96 mph in Shorewood, and 99 mph at Gary/Chicago International Airport. Those are hurricane-force winds over populated suburbs. Alongside the wind, a trained spotter reported hail to 2.5 inches in Westmont, with golf-ball reports across the metro.
The Confirmed Tornadoes
Every tornado below comes from an NWS Chicago damage survey, not radar estimates. A surveyed, rated track is a government-documented event that places your home in the storm path on a specific date, which matters for your claim.
Monee to Crown Point, IN: EF-2
The strongest tornado of the event tracked from Monee across the state line into Crown Point, Indiana, earning an EF-2 rating. EF-2 winds remove roof decking, not just shingles. If you're anywhere near this track, treat any interior leak or visible roof disturbance as urgent.
Mokena to Tinley Park: EF-1
An EF-1 tracked from Mokena into Tinley Park, where officials reported widespread damage: rooftops, shattered windows, downed trees, poles, and power lines, and damage to the Credit Union 1 Amphitheater's pavilion roof. Tinley Park sits at the center of this event's damage footprint.
Orland Park to Hammond, IN: EF-1
A second EF-1 ran from Orland Park into Hammond, Indiana. Orland Park was also struck by an EF-0 in the July 27 outbreak, which means some roofs in this corridor have now taken two surveyed tornado events in three weeks. If your roof was inspected after July 27, this event is a reason to have it looked at again.
Wilmington: EF-1, and Oswego: EF-0
An EF-1 was confirmed in Wilmington in southern Will County, and an EF-0 in Oswego in Kendall County, bookending a damage footprint that spans four counties.
In the Damage Path? Get Documented Now
Free Haag-certified inspection with photo documentation tied to the August 11 storm date. Same-day appointments are running in the affected suburbs. The report is yours to keep.
Get My Free InspectionOr call (630) 414-9160
The Wind Was Not Just in the Tornado Tracks
Derechos damage differently than tornadoes. The 70 to 100 mph straight-line winds swept entire towns, which is why Tinley Park, Orland Park, Mokena, Frankfort, New Lenox, and Homer Glen homeowners far from any surveyed track are finding creased shingles, lifted tabs, and missing sections. Wind damage at these speeds breaks shingle seal strips across wide areas, and a broken seal is invisible from the ground until the next storm gets underneath it. Our guide to storm damage on asphalt shingles shows exactly what wind creasing looks like.
West of the tornado corridor, the hail did the quiet damage. At 2.5 inches, the Westmont report is well past the size that bruises asphalt shingles, and Oswego and the Sugar Grove area took both hail and near-100 mph gusts. Hail bruising is a subsurface mat fracture that leaks years later, which is why it's the most commonly missed storm damage in the region.
This event is one of several this year. See it in season context in our 2026 Chicagoland Storm Report.
Update, August 15: the heavy rain that followed this event is exactly when wind-loosened shingles start leaking. If water showed up in your house this weekend, our guide to telling roof water from flood water covers which one your insurance actually pays for.
What to Do This Week
Documentation first, phone calls second. A free inspection gives you a photo report with hit counts and measurements tied to the August 11 storm date, before any claim goes on your record. It also tells you whether the damage clears your deductible at all: our claim vs out-of-pocket guide walks that math.
Most Illinois policies require filing within 12 months, which makes August 11, 2027 the practical deadline for this event. That sounds distant. It isn't: evidence weathers, adjuster queues after catastrophes run long, and the strongest claims are filed while the NWS surveys are fresh.
Local Contractor, Not a Storm Chaser
C&N Construction runs from 24 N Hillside Ave, Hillside, IL 60162. Permanent office, not a PO box. Licensed and insured in Illinois since 2015. Over 25,400 projects completed across Chicagoland with in-house W-2 crews. When we give you a warranty, we're still here to honor it.
One more thing, because it's already happening: every town named above is being canvassed by out-of-town crews this week. Before you sign anything at your door, read what to do when a roofer knocks after a storm and how to tell a storm chaser from a local contractor. Anyone who offers to cover your deductible is proposing insurance fraud, and that conversation should end there.