Overnight storms bring more flooding, wind damage, tornado to Chicago area
Chicagoans were likely awoken by thunderclaps as loud and intense as explosions overnight Sunday into Monday — and another round of heavy rain with flooded roads and downed trees came along with it.
The overnight storms followed less than 12 hours after another round of storms likewise caused flooding and other damage around the Chicago area.
Overnight, motorists were seen driving gingerly in the Avondale neighborhood as heavy rain and strong winds clobbered the streets.
In Andersonville, a large tree limb snapped along Catalpa Avenue near Clark Street, and came down onto several cars.
A large portion of the tree came down onto two or three vehicles. The windshield of one of the cars appeared to be busted.
Allison Andrews came out to see the whole street blocked by the tree, and wondered if a lightning strike may have been to blame.
"I was curious if it was — it didn't seem like it was wind — if it was a strike, because there were so many flashes. If so, curious if that is from a lightning strike," she said, "and if so, thank God it hit the tree and not the house."
Andrews described the fury with which the lightning flashed and the thunder crashed like bombs.
"This one was so loud and crazy, and the booms, and just the flashes that I could see," she said. "I didn't get up and, you know, go out and look at all, but it went on for quite some time, and it was, I'll say, as loud as any storm that I've heard in a very, very long time."
Chicago Department of Streets and Sanitation crews came to the scene late Monday morning to move the tree out of the street.
Meanwhile early Monday morning, ponding was seen on the right shoulder, the far-right lane, and part of the middle lane on the inbound Edens Expressway (I-94) at Elston Avenue.
Motorists are reminded that flooded roads should be avoided, and dark intersections with no working traffic light should be treated as four-way stops. Barricades and reroutes must be obeyed, and fallen cables should be avoided.
The overnight storms also produced a confirmed EF-1 tornado, which was on the ground at 11:44 p.m. Sunday in southeastern LaSalle County. This was about five miles west of the community of Ransom.
Radar detected debris along North 17th Road between East 20th Road and East 24th Road. There were no reports of damage as of early Monday, but there are a few farmhouses in this area.
CBS Skywatch flew over the area Monday morning, where damage at several farms was apparent. A freight train also appeared to have been knocked over by the suspected tornado. A tornado warning was in effect for east-central parts of LaSalle County until midnight.
Tornado warnings were called just after midnight for parts of LaSalle and Grundy counties, and just after 12:30 a.m. for Kankakee County.
The earlier round of storms on Sunday caused flooding too. On the Stevenson Expressway, water covered some of the lanes as heavy rain fell across the city.
In far north suburban Mundelein during the earlier Sunday storms, firefighters pulled two people from a car at Midland and Courtland just before 1 p.m. They were trapped in a drainage culvert and under a pedestrian overpass by floodwater.
The waters swirled fast around the car, reaching over the license plate.
Neither person was hospitalized, but one firefighter was taken to a hospital after the rescue as a precaution.
In Bridgeview, one woman attempted to drive down her street, only for it to turn into a retention pond.
"No, do not try it," said Monica Castigione. "Do not try to go down that path."
In Arlington Heights, large tree limbs came down during the midday hours Sunday, blocking streets as ComEd crews worked to restore power.
The restoration effort continued Monday morning. As of just before 5 a.m., there were 206 active outages affecting 4,603 ComEd customers.
At O'Hare International Airport, 62 flight cancellations and counting had been reported.
The severe weather pattern for this week is not over. It will be stormy and unsettled for much of the week, with several more rounds of showers and thunderstorms. The next one will be later on Monday.
On Monday, conditions will be dry until around 3 p.m., with storms really ramping up by 7 p.m. and continuing into the early-morning hours Tuesday.
The storms will not be continuous — there will be periods of dry time in between just like on Sunday — but with a boundary stalled nearby it keeps conditions unsettled this week.
