Uploaded December 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
This is the first hour of original LIVE broadcast television coverage by WBBM Channel 2 in Chicago shortly after a deadly F5 tornado swept through Aurora, Plainfield, Crest Hill and Joliet, Illinois on August 28, 1990. The broadcasts were recorded off air as the reports flowed into the WBBM newsroom.
Everything was broadcast by ENG microwave signals both from the ground and air from the damaged areas, hence occasional dropouts of audio and video. The extent of the damage quickly became apparent after Chopper 2 flew the damage track.
To this day, this still remains the deadliest tornado in recent Illinois history and the last recorded F5 in Illinois.
Additional information on the August 28, 1990 Plainfield, Illinois F5 tornado: weather.gov/lot/1990_08_28_PlainfieldTornado
Video © WBBM 2 Chicago, All Rights Reserved.
This is the first hour of original LIVE broadcast television coverage by WBBM Channel 2 in Chicago shortly after a deadly F5 tornado swept through Aurora, Plainfield, Crest Hill and Joliet, Illinois on August 28, 1990. The broadcasts were recorded off air as the reports flowed into the WBBM newsroom.
Everything was broadcast by ENG microwave signals both from the ground and air from the damaged areas, hence occasional dropouts of audio and video. The extent of the damage quickly became apparent after Chopper 2 flew the damage track.
To this day, this still remains the deadliest tornado in recent Illinois history and the last recorded F5 in Illinois.
Additional information on the August 28, 1990 Plainfield, Illinois F5 tornado: weather.gov/lot/1990_08_28_PlainfieldTornado
Video © WBBM 2 Chicago, All Rights Reserved.
