Tornados devastated a small town in northern Illinois town Thursday night, killing one person, and  injuring 11 more as it blew house off their foundations, reports the Associated Press.

Rescue crews were combing through each home and building in Fairdale, Ill. twice, and were preparing for a third search Friday morning. Police and fire officials said that they weren't sure how many people were still unaccounted for in the town of about 150 people.

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"We're hoping our search will be fruitless, in the sense that we won't find anybody," Sycamore Fire Chief Peter Polarek said.

The woman who was killed was identified as 67-year-old Geraldine M. Schultz. Authorities said those hospitalized did not have life-threatening injuries.

Nearly 20 homes were destroyed in Fairdale, according to DeKalb County Sheriff Roger A. Scott. Matthew Knott, division chief for the Rockford Fire Department, told The Associated Press that almost every building in the town, which is located 80 miles northwest of Chicago "sustained damage of some sort."

Roofs were missing, metal siding from barns was found wrapped around trees, the AP reported. Residents gathered at a road block a mile from town Friday morning, eager to check the damage to their homes, but were refused entry by Police, who said it was too dangerous.

Al Zammuto, a 60-year-old machinist, told the AP that he and other town residents received cellphone alerts at 6:45 p.m. However, he dismissed it after receiving earlier warnings that proved false.

Bricks were torn off the side of Zammuto's home, and mere minutes later he stepped outside and the town "looked like a landfill. People were screaming and yelling. People were in total shock."

Matt Friedlein, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service, told the Associated Press that at least two tornadoes swept through six north-central Illinois counties, and that teams would visit the area to determine how long the tornados stayed on the ground, their strength and the extent of the damage.

Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner was traveling Friday morning to survey damage in the region, county authorities said.

Roughly 30 homes were damaged or destroyed in, adjacent to DeKalb, Ogle County Sheriff Brian VanVickle told the Associated Press that approximately 30 homes were damaged or destroyed there, nut that no deaths or significant injuries were reported. He said 12 people were trapped in the storm cellar beneath a restaurant that collapsed in Rochelle, about 20 miles southwest of Fairdale.

"No sooner did we get down there, when it hit the building and laid a whole metal wall on top of the doors where we went into the storm cellar," said 82-year-old Raymond Kramer, one of the 12 who were rescued from the Grubsteakers restaurant. "When the tornado hit, we all got a dust bath. Everyone in there got shattered with dust and debris falling out of the rafters."

TagsDeadly Tornado Kills at Least One in Illinois, Fairdale, tornado, twister, storms, Dozens Injured