1 person dead after tornadoes hit a large swath of Illinois

One person is dead and seven are injured after tornadoes left a 50-mile path of destruction across north-central Illinois.

The one recorded fatality was in the hamlet of Fairdale, which a nearby resident told the Chicago Tribune was "pretty well destroyed" by a tornado. Rockford Fire Department division chief Matthew Knott told ABC-7 that "every single" structure in Fairdale sustained damage, and trees were uprooted, power lines down, and houses were in pieces across the entire area hit by the tornadoes. The weather also caused the cancelation of more than 800 flights out of Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, USA Today reports.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.