Thunderstorms, wind sock suburbs, cause evacuation of fans at Wrigley

DuPage and Kane county officials said county and municipal employees were cleaning up after a strong summer thunderstorm blew through Chicago and neighboring suburbs late Monday night.

ComEd crews said about 238,000 customers - 102,000 in Chicago - remain without power this morning due to the powerful storms that carried wind gusts up to 80 miles an hour, hail, and possibly tornados.

The storms hit the suburbs causing damage in several neighborhoods, a tornado warning in downtown Chicago and evacuation of fans from the stands at Wrigley Field.

ComEd spokeswoman Kim Johnson said high winds toppled trees onto power lines throughout the suburbs, causing some small fires.

She said 427,000 customers were affected by the storms, but that the maximum customers without power at one time was 243,000. She said more than 500 crews will work throughout the day to restore power where needed, and that 188,000 customers have been restored already.

She is also asking customers for patience this morning as the work to restore power to those still in the dark. She said the power will come on for most homes in the next 24 hours, but that this could be a multi-day repair in harder hit areas.

The weather - specifically standing water, blinking traffic lights from power outages, and fog - is being blamed for tollway congestion and snarling traffic throughout the suburbs early Tuesday.

Joe Kirts, the acting director of the DuPage County Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency, said Blomingdale seemed to take on the brunt of Monday's storm, but villages like Addison, Roselle and Carol Stream suffered damage.

"It could have been worse, but it was still pretty bad," he said. "We had an unconfirmed report that a tornado did touch down out here, but the National Weather Service has to tour the area before we are sure if it happened."

Meteorologists from the National Weather Service officials said trained spotters noticed funnel clouds in Elmhurst, Hampshire and Carol Stream, but added they will not confirm those touch downs until later in the day.

Lightning struck the roof of St. Charles North High School at least once, causing roof damage and creating a scare for attendees of a banquet inside the facility.

St. Charles Unit District 303 Superintendent Don Schlomann said lightning pounded the roof at about 8 p.m. Monday. The lightning strike was powerful enough to launch metal utilities into the parking lot of the school.

Schlomann said there is significant damage to the high school roof, but also stated it will be fixed by the time school opens on Aug. 27th.

Fire officials helped evacuate the unknown number of occupants inside the school at the time of the strike.

Schlomann toured the school with fire officials Monday night and reported all the banquet attendees were evacuated without injury.

The school damage was just one in a series of emergency calls handled by rescue personnel in the area. The trouble began with calls of a tornado sighting near I-90 and Route 47. Multiple lightning strikes, downed trees and power lines were the norm after that.

Among the other problems were:

• A house on the 400 block of Prairie Street in Elgin was struck by lightning, but no injuries were reported.

• An unidentified explosion in the area of Deer Lane investigated by Rutland-Dundee fire personnel.

• Power lines down on Sycamore Lane in Sleepy Hollow.

• A structure fire at 2S461 Bliss Road in Batavia that required the assistance of nine fire departments.

• One-third of a very large tree blocked Houston Street in Batavia, about a half-block east of Route 31.

• Large trees down in Naperville, blocking four lanes at Naperville Road and 111th Street.

• Hail falling in Woodridge.

• Wind damage and trees down in Roselle.

One of the hardest hit areas was in Griffith, Indiana, where heavy winds or a tornado destroyed homes and ripped apart a strip mall. National Guard troops have been called in to the area to help with clean up efforts, officials said.

Arline officials said O'Hare isn't experiencing any delays this morning, but are busy rebooking passengers on flights that were canceled Monday. Midway reports some flights are still delayed between 15 minutes 45 minutes.

Officials are warning travelers to contact airlines to make sure their flight is running on time.

Last night, all flights in and out of Chicago airports were halted during the tornado warning, officials said, but resumed by 9:45 p.m. Passengers were evacuated to the lower level at O'Hare International Airport for the duration of the storm. In total, 350 flights were canceled at O'Hare.

Travelers who had already boarded airplanes last night prior to the storm were taken off when the storm struck, then led to the lower levels as a precaution.

"It was pretty cramped down there, the whole terminal was down there," said George Wickens, 50, of London, who was trying to travel to Florida with his family. "I don't think anything will be getting out of Chicago tonight."

The storms did not cause any damage or injuries at O'Hare or Midway Airport, said Department of Aviation spokesman Gregg Cunningham.

Elsewhere, fans at the Chicago Cubs and Houston Astros game were evacuated from Wrigley Field's stands into the stadium concourse as tornado sirens blared throughout the city.

"I've never seen anything like it. This is unprecedented," said Bob Sejnoha of Algonquin, who was at the Cubs game. "I don't think it's ever happened at Wrigley."

Meteorologist Brad Churchill said 60 to 80 mph winds were recorded in some of the storms.

There were no immediate reports of injuries, Chicago Fire Department officials said.

The fast-moving storms caught many Chicagoans by surprise.

Kristin Febor, 21 of Chicago watched the rain approach from the roof of the Marina Towers high-rise downtown along with friends.

"The wind picked up and in probably five seconds it blew (my friend) into her husband," she said. "He grabbed her and pulled her inside and we all ran down the stairs. It was like dead still and then within five seconds, ten seconds we were all blown away."

Warning sirens sent pedestrians scrambling into high-rises and train stations for shelter.

Security guards at the Ogilvie Train Station, just off the Chicago River, ushered people streaming inside away from large glass windows and into the middle of the building.

"The lightning between the buildings was looking ominous," said Michaela Nelson, 58-year-old singer from Barrington, brushing her dripping-wet hair at the station. "And then it just poured."

The Cubs weren't the only sports team affected by the storm. Lightning cut short the Bears morning special teams practice in Bourbonnais, then the tornado warning for Kankakee County ended their night practice after only an hour.

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