Dramatic videos highlight the intensity of Illinois tornado

TORONTO – A powerful tornado touched down in Illinois on Thursday, killing at least one person and injuring seven. Everything in its path, including homes and cars, were ravaged while some of the destruction was caught on camera.

READ MORE: 1 dead, homes destroyed in Illinois town after tornado

Storm chasers tracked the funnel cloud as it touched down in Fairdale, a community of about 200 just outside of Rochelle and northwest of Chicago.

“I saw headlights go flying,” one storm chaser could be heard yelling in a video. At the time, their vehicle was rushing towards the twister while oncoming traffic sat directly in the path of destruction.

WATCH ABOVE: Tornado winds flips over trailer truck on highway

High winds were certainly a factor as well. One video perfectly captured the intensity of the gale when a large truck’s weight wasn’t enough to stop it from getting blown over onto its side.

WATCH ABOVE: Tornado smashes through Illinois farms

A YouTube video, reportedly recorded by Dave Walker, shows the tornado churn its way across one farm.

WATCH ABOVE: Home video shows huge tornado rip through central Illinois

Some homes were destroyed. One woman recorded what happened in her neighbourhood from the safety of her house, far enough from the twister to not be in any immediate danger.

In her video, you can hear her gasp as homes in the distance sat directly in the tornado’s path.

“That’s going through subdivisions,” she could be heard saying.