Tornado lands near Chicago's O'Hare airport after severe weather warnings

Rare tornado touches down in the US's third most populous city

Storm clouds pass over downtown Chicago as the National Weather Service continued to issue tornado warnings in the greater metropolitan area on July 12. AP

The National Weather Service on Wednesday said that a tornado had touched down near Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport after warnings of severe weather for the city.

A tornado hit the ground about 7pm local time, according to the National Weather Service in Chicago.

“This tornado has been touching the ground intermittently so far and is moving east," the bureau said.

"There are additional circulations along the line south of O’Hare. Seek shelter if in the warned area."

The National Weather Service had issued two tornado warnings for parts of the city on Wednesday evening.

Tornado sirens sounded at least twice across Chicago, warning people to take cover.

Lynn Becker, a longtime Chicago resident, posted video to Twitter with the sirens sounding out.

“I’m in a 60-storey apartment building so my options are somewhat limited,” he said. “We have to, I assume, go into the core of the building.”

Mr Becker said news of the storm was featured across local media.

“There’s a certain panic when you’re watching a TV screen and everything is in red … but the hope is that the damage is minimal,” he said.