Storms move on but rain continues

Thunderstorms rolled through the Chicago area overnight, dumping as much as 2-inches of rain in some areas and small hail in others.

The rainfall has left expressways wet, as high standing water resulted in an overall slow commute throughout the area.

Flash flood warnings have been issued for southern Cook, Kane and DuPage counties, as well as Lee, DeKalb, Grundy, Will, Ogle LaSalle and Kendall counties.

However, a second round of storms moved on at 9 a.m., meteorologists from the National Weather Service announced. But, don't put the umbrella away just yet, as storms and rain are expected on and off throughout the day.

Heavy rainfall has created flooding on several roadways in and around North Aurora, officials said. Mitchell Road was closed for about an hour from Butterfield Road to I-88 due to flooding officials said. The roadway reopened atabout 10 a.m., officials said.

However, officials warned there was standing water on most roadways in Aurora, and motorists were urged to drive with caution.

Most flood related deaths occur in vehicles, so motorists are asked to not cross flooded out bridges, dips, or other low spots. And, walkers are asked to never try to cross a flowing stream, even a small one.

ComEd reported 59,000 customers were without power as of 6 a.m. Of those, 10,800 outages were reported in Chicago, 7,700 were in the northern suburbs, and 9,400 in the western suburbs.

The outages started about 8 p.m. last night when storms began to roll through ComEd's service area, officials said. Overnight, crews were working to keep up with the outages, officials said.

Flights in and out of O'Hare International Airport are delayed about 45 minutes, according to the Chicago Department of Aviation. Delays at Midway were averaging about 30 minutes, officials said.

The National Weather Service predicts a 50 percent chance of rain most of the day Thursday, with highs in the mid 60s.