On Tuesday, Feb. 27 there were reports of tornadoes across the Chicago area due to the severe thunderstorms. An unconfirmed number of 10 tornadoes were reported in both Illinois and northwestern Indiana. At least one confirmed tornado touched down near Inverness and Hoffman Estates.
Senior Adaobi Ibe, who lives in Inverness, was in her living room doing homework when she heard the sirens.
“I wasn’t concerned. I feel like we hear these alarms a lot. It was my mom that was concerned ‘cause she’s not from here,” Ibe said.
Other than relocating herself, not much changed for Ibe that night. She kept doing her homework.
Seniors Hiral Parikh and Sahana Ramesh were at polling place technician training at the Hoffman Estates Village Hall, outside of their houses, during the peak of the storm. Less than half an hour into their training, the trainers had to stop them and move everyone into a hall backroom full of boxes.
“We were just standing there and the trainers were trying to continue our training while we were all standing there. So, we were still on the grind, we were dedicated to the election judge. We literally are holding the government on our back, you know? Our civic duty comes first,” Parikh said with a laugh.
The trainers let them leave soon after, cutting training short when it was safe to drive. Neither student was too afraid as they were driving home. Although it wasn’t raining, all the streets were flooded.
“The thunder was really cool. The lightning was really cool,” Parikh said.
Lightning rages during last night’s storm. Though the rain had stopped, the roads remained flooded. Video courtesy of Hiral Parikh, ‘24.
Barrington, specifically South Barrington, was one of the areas most affected by these storms, with issues such as part of the South Barrington Club’s roof getting torn off and various reports of trees crashing into buildings.
Freshmen Haasini Arunkumar and Khushi Satyadev were on FaceTime with each other when they heard the sirens.
“I was kind of scared because it was loud and there was hail on my window,” Satyadev said.
Arunkumar and Satyadev remained on their call throughout the storm and didn’t relocate, choosing to stay in their bedrooms. Both of their lights went out at times.
According to ComEd’s outage map, over 900 people are still experiencing power outages as of Wednesday morning. A majority of the damage is reported to have occurred in Barrington and the surrounding towns. The Barrington Area Library did not open until 2 p.m. due to power outages.
Ibe doesn’t believe any tornado really happened at all.
“I don’t think it actually happened. I think we get these warnings too often,” Ibe said. “Nothing ever happens, no one’s ever in shambles.”
Cyclone Companions
With the intense weather during the tornado watch, pets in the surrounding area have had a similar reaction to the storm.
“She’s scared of thunder and stuff,” senior David Basa said. “She was near us most of the time. She was very affectionate. She loves to cuddle.”
“Louie was very scared,” sophomore Michael Swiatlowski said.
“Tony was a little nervous,” senior Allie Edwards said. “He doesn’t usually like to sit by people and he was sitting right by me.”
