New aerial photos show the trail of destruction a tornado inflicted on a small Illinois farming community . Residents from Fairdale , an unincorporated town 80 miles northwest of Chicago , were told they could return to their homes on Saturday to salvage what they could . But buildings in the settlement were virtually flattened when the vortex slammed into the area at around 7pm on Thursday night . Officials reported that 17 of the 50 buildings in the town are completely destroyed , while the other 33 have all been damaged in some way . Geraldine M Schultz , 67 , and Jacklyn K. Klosa , 69 , were killed in her home by the storm , authorities announced , while around a dozen people were injured . This aerial photo shows a path of destruction , after a tornado swept through the small town of Fairdale , Illinois . Residents from Fairdale , an unincorporated town 80 miles northwest of Chicago , were told they could return to their homes on Saturday to salvage what they could . The DeKalb County Sheriff 's Office bused residents back to the scene of the devastation so they could begin to take stock of what was left of their property . Seeing the wreckage up close for the first time since Thursday 's storms left some amazed that they survived . ' I thought my parents were dead , ' said 32-year-old Adam Davis , who hopped into his truck Thursday and raced along with the tornado in the hopes of getting to his parents ' house and rescuing them before the twister struck . He found them standing in their doorway frozen in disbelief and grabbed them just in time . On Saturday , he was helping collect what could be salvaged from his childhood home , now full of debris , its roof ripped off and its windows broken . 'It 's not necessarily the mementos yet ; it 's the essentials for now . One step at a time , ' he said . Eight tornadoes roared across northern and central Illinois during Thursday 's storms , the National Weather Service confirmed Saturday . The strongest hit Fairdale , where two people were killed . That tornado also injured 22 people . Debris surrounds a plot where a house once stood in the farming community . Officials reported that 17 of the 50 buildings in the town are completely destroyed , while the other 33 have all been damaged in some way . The weather service gave it a preliminary EF4 rating — its second strongest — with winds of between 180 and 200 mph . It was a half-mile wide and remained on the ground for at least 28.7 miles , a record long path for that part of Illinois . Al Zammuto , a 60-year-old machinist , was preparing to inspect what was left of the roof on a former schoolhouse that he had been transforming into his home over the past year . He will have to start over . ' I do n't know how much of the roof came off , ' he said . ' I 'm going to climb a ladder later today and see . ' In all , some 70 buildings were destroyed or damaged in Fairdale , authorities said . Another 50 buildings were hit in nearby Rochelle . All buildings have been searched , but not all residents have been accounted for , so cadaver dogs are being used in parts of DeKalb County , the Illinois State Police said late Friday . The tornado blew numerous vehicles from nearby interstates , and troopers helped rescue a trapped driver in an overturned semi-trailer . As the cleanup began , tales of survival continued to emerge . The vortex created a path through the fields and wiped out a house as it made its way to the town . A building is left standing in a property above . Kelly Newman , 46 , lost her Rochelle home . For her , the storm began with a moment of playful wonder at the size of the hail . She ran outside to collect some of the pieces to put it in the freezer to show her children . 'Then I noticed to the southwest there was a huge black funnel thing , but it did n't look like a tornado because it was just way too wide , ' she said . But the telltale train-like roar sent them and their 19-year-old daughter running for the basement . The house cracked and collapsed around them , raining down debris and a dusting of what she described as 'muddy soot . ' The family survived , and several police officers helped free her husband , who had been trapped nearly upside down between two collapsed walls . 'We 're alive , we were spared . Our lives were saved , ' she said . A destroyed house is seen in Fairdale is pictured on Friday , hours after a tornado ripped through the community . Candy Trudell searches for her belongings in the rubble after a tornado struck the town of Rochelle , Illinois the evening before . A chair stands beside a pile of debris , including fallen tree branches , as the cleanup in Rochelle begins . An American flag is planted in debris , which is all that 's left of the home where Kelly Newman and her family lived on Route 64 in Rochelle , .
Fairdale , a town 80 miles northwest of Chicago , was virtually flattened when the vortex hit on 69 evening . Residents were bused back to their homes by the DeKalb County Sheriff 's Office in a bid to salvage what they could . Officials reported that 17 of the 50 buildings in the town are completely destroyed while the other 33 are damaged . Geraldine M Schultz , 67 , and Jacklyn K. Klosa , Thursday , were killed inside one of the homes by the storm .