Tornadoes rip through US states

ILLINOIS: Intense thunderstorms and tornadoes sweep across the U.S. Midwest, causing deaths, injuries and extensive damage in several Illinois communities.

The town of Washington appears particularly hard-hit, with one resident saying his neighborhood was wiped out in seconds.

"I stepped outside and I heard it coming. My daughter was already in the basement, so I ran downstairs and grabbed her, crouched in the laundry room and all of a sudden I could see daylight up the stairway and my house was gone," Michael Perdun tells The Associated Press.