A tornado swept through communities in heavily populated suburban Chicago, damaging more than 100 homes, toppling trees, knocking out power and causing multiple injuries, officials said.

However there was relief on Monday as authorities reported that it appeared no one had died.

Fewer than a dozen people were hurt in the tornado that touched down after 11pm on Sunday, and all are expected to recover.

At least eight people were hospitalized in Naperville, where 22 homes were left “uninhabitable" and more than 130 homes were damaged in the suburb of 147,500 people that’s about 25 miles west of Chicago.

Two people who were initially described as being in a critical condition had improved by Monday afternoon, said Naperville Fire Chief Mark Puknaitis.

“It could have been a lot worse, I will say that,” Puknaitis said.

“When you look at the destruction that has occurred over this five square block area or so, it’s amazing that we can stand here and report that we only had eight people that were transported to a hospital.”

Officials in the nearby village of Woodridge said a tornado damaged at least 100 structures. The village’s fire chief said three people were taken to hospital.

Woodridge Police Chief Brian Cunningham said early warnings likely minimized the number of injuries.

“It was a nighttime event, a lot of people were sleeping, weren’t aware of what was going on,” he said.

“The early warning got people to shelter. And the fact that there’s only three people injured and the amount of devastation that’s in the community, it’s just amazing."

The storm destroyed the second floor of Bridget Casey’s Woodridge home. She sat in a lawn chair in the driveway before sunrise on Monday.

Her 16-year-old son, Nate, said he was watching TV when the storm swept through and he raced to help his mother get his three younger siblings to the basement.

“I just heard a loud crash and I’m thinking, ‘Oh, what are my brothers up to?’ I go look and I see the sky, and then I hear my brothers screaming from the room,” he told the Chicago Sun-Times.

Mayor Gina Cunningham said the damage to homes and other property in the village was “extensive”

“I’m just emotional because it is devastating to drive through the community that I grew up in and worked in and share with so many wonderful neighbors,” she said.

The tornado was confirmed by radar, and a team with the National Weather Service began surveying damage on Monday to determine its strength and path. The agency said one tornado likely caused damage in Naperville, Woodridge and Darien.

“If there were no fatalities — and there haven't been any reported to us — that's great news considering the population of the area, the level of damage and the time of day, after 11pm when many people may be asleep," said Matt Friedlein, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

Radar also showed storm rotation over several other areas of suburban Chicago, and in northwestern Indiana in the Hobart and South Haven areas.

The weather service said surveys on Monday determined two EF1 tornadoes packing winds up to 100mph struck northern Indiana's St Joseph and Steuben counties, damaging some barns and trees and destroying other exterior structures.