Chicago Weather: Severe Thunderstorms Hit Chicago Area For Second Night; Damage, Downed Power Lines Reported In Western Suburbs

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Severe thunderstorms hit of the Chicago area for the second night in a row late Wednesday.

Early in the evening, a severe thunderstorm hovered over Oak Brook and later Lemont, and was nearly stationary there. The storms brought hail and strong winds, and CBS 2 Meteorologist Mary Kay Kleist reported a lot of lightning was also associated with the cell.

A Northern Illinois University student and storm chaser, Ethan Mok, tweeted this dramatic flash of lightning:

Northwest Indiana was also later affected by dramatic heavy rainfall.

A flash flood warning has been issued until 10:30 p.m. for central Cook and eastern DuPage counties. It covers communities from Schaumburg south to Downers Grove and almost down to Orland Park.

A separate flash flood warning has also been issued until 3:15 a.m. Thursday for southeast Cook, southeast Will, and northeast Kankakee counties in Illinois, and Lake and Porter counties in Indiana.

A third flash flood warning was in place until 3 a.m. for parts of DuPage, Kane, Will and Kendall counties.

Rainfall totals were impressive in many areas. Montgomery saw 4.1 inches of rain; Beecher 3.76 inches; Merrillville, Indiana 3.52 inches; Schererville, Indiana 3.28 inches; Sugar Grove 3.14 inches; Crown Point, Indiana 2.86 inches; and St. John, Indiana 2.2 inches.

Severe thunderstorm warnings were issued earlier in the evening for southeast DuPage, north central Will, and south central Cook counties, and for southeast Newton and southern Jasper County in Indiana.

Viewer Jennifer Hoffman sent us some photos of menacing clouds over Godley, Illinois in Will and Grundy counties.

Damage was reported in the western suburbs, where the storms hovered for hours.

Twitter user Physique (Zeke) Bonura tweeted a photo of a large hailstone that he reported fell in Villa Park.

There were also reports that lightning struck an electrical box on Ardmore Avenue in Villa Park, forcing police to shut down the road.

Meanwhile in Oak Brook, police said officers and ComEd were called for downed power lines on Oak Brook Hills Road. Several tree branches were also down at the scene because of strong winds and a hail storm, and everyone was advised to avoid the area.

By 10 p.m., the storms were beginning to move out of the area. But the rain had not stopped, and downpours persisted.

In the days to come, we stay muggy and very warm since the front to our north is stuck in place. The front may drift near the Wisconsin state line on Thursday, but basically, we stay extremely humid.

With that pattern in place, it doesn't take much for storms to form. So get used to them, because we will see the same activity for Thursday and Friday.

A cold front arrives Sunday late day. Storms will accompany the passage of the front. But it will bring a less humid air mass and cooler temperatures for next week.