A line of severe thunderstorms raced through the Chicago area Wednesday afternoon, downing trees, causing power outages, and forcing ground stops at O’Hare and Midway airports.
Severe Thunderstorm Warnings were issued throughout the area as the storm passed through. Meteorologist Albert Ramon said the storm began picking up strength as it approached the city due to the heat and the high humidity in the air.
Winds gusts over 60 miles per hour were recorded at the airports and in the city, with a peak wind gust of 67 miles per hour at O’Hare around 3:50 p.m.
Lightning flashed and thunder blasted as the rain began pouring. Downtown, the heavy rain sent people scrambling for cover as the rain poured down like a monsoon. They used just about anything to stay dry.
Ground stops were issued at O’Hare and Midway international airports due to the storms Wednesday afternoon, FAA officials said. Both have since been lifted.
O’Hare also reported ground delays averaging about two hours during the storms, and departure delays averaging 60 minutes. Midway also reported departure delays.
The airports were back to normal by Wednesday night.
In Wheaton, fire crews were busy on many fronts. An air raid siren came crashing down, lightning struck a tree, and many residents lost power.
One person had to go to the hospital for storm-related injuries in Wheaton.
Meanwhile, Richard Wright, a weather spotter and ham radio operator in DeWitt County in Central Illinois, came across power lines sparking in Bloomington.
“As a weather spotter, I have never run into anything like this,” said Wright. “I got a hold of dispatch and let them know we had a tree down, and it was on fire when I got there. There was small flames coming out. It was arcing.”
Richard Wright
In Northwest Indiana, a festival was delayed and a vendor was injured after a propane tank blew up. The fire chief in Hammond said a strong gust of wind pushed over a tent that fell onto a grill — sparking the explosion.
Tree damage was widespread, from Cicero, where a tree blocked an entire road, to Downers Grove, where a tree fell on a car. CBS Skywatch also flew over a downed tree in Glendale Heights, and a beloved tree known for its blue holiday light display came down in Park Ridge — to name just a few affected suburbs.
Wisconsin was hit even harder — with a several reports of tornadoes and funnel and wall clouds, CBS affiliate WISC-TV in Madison reported. Just outside Madison, an apparent tornado was caught on camera, leaving a trail of destruction.
“The whole roof flew over the house and into the swimming pool, which is where it is now,” said Pat Lohr, who was in the path of the Wisconsin storms.
While there will be plenty of cleanup for those directly affected by the storms, there have been no reports of serious injuries.
ComEd reported power outages affecting more than 11,000 customers throughout the city and suburbs in the wake of the storm. The most outages were reported in the western suburbs near Elmhurst, Lombard and Addison.
While the storms brought downpours, they moved through the Chicago area much quicker than last week’s storms that caused flash flooding on the West Side.
Temperatures Wednesday reached the 90s with noticeable humidity, driving real feel up toward 100 degrees. The storms will drop those temperatures drastically by about 20 degrees, with forecasted highs for Thursday only in the low 70s and cooler than we’ve seen in more than a month. In some lakefront communities, Thursday highs may not even reach 70.
The onshore winds keeping temperatures cool will also produce dangerous swimming and boating conditions; a Beach Hazard Statement is expected on Thursday into Friday.
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