Tornadoes kill 2 in northwestern Indiana and raze buildings in Kankakee, Illinois

KANKAKEE, Ill, March 12, (AP): Major storms whipped up tornadoes that killed at least two people in northwest Indiana and leveled buildings in Kankakee, Illinois, authorities said Wednesday, as another round of rain, hail and strong winds made its way through the region. Several intense supercell thunderstorms moved across northern Illinois and northwestern Indiana the previous day, including one responsible for at least four tornadoes, according to the National Weather Service office in Chicago.

The Newton County Coroner's office said Edward L. Kozlowski, 89, and his wife Arlene Kozlowski, 84, were killed when a tornado struck their home in Lake Village, in northwestern Indiana. The couple appeared to have been killed by blunt force trauma, the coroner's office said, and an autopsy was scheduled for Friday.

"They were wonderful, just really wonderful human beings,” son-in-law Steve Rehfeldt told CBS News in Chicago. "You know, tough old guy and sweet old lady.” They left behind four children, seven grandchildren and great-grandchildren. The storms shattered windows, tore off roofs and smashed vehicles in Kankakee, Illinois. Wood planks and other debris littered yards, streets and parking lots.

A landscape and garden center was seriously damaged, some parts completely destroyed. Storms also dropped 1 to 2 inches (2.5 to 5 centimeters) of rain and left piles of hail in the Grand Rapids area in western Michigan, said Alex Manion, a weather service meteorologist in Detroit. Streets flooded, swamping cars with water above their doors in some places.

The weather service said crews were determining the strength and number of tornadoes, and parts of Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio remained under a tornado watch Wednesday. Suspected tornadoes last week killed four people in southwestern Michigan and two in eastern Oklahoma.

In Lake Village, where the Kozlowskis died, crews rescued some people who were trapped in damaged homes. At least 70 utility poles were knocked down and many roads were rendered unpassable, Newton County officials said. "Please do not come here. Do not try to help right now,” Sheriff Shannon Cothran said in a video shot in front of a destroyed home.