Powerful spring storm hits area but local damage mild

People from Lake through Will counties are waking up to some storm damages and flickering lights after a powerful spring storm blew through late Wednesday night and early Thursday morning.

However, the powerful storms hit Indiana and Missouri worse and left the Chicago-area counties relatively unscathed.

The fast-moving storm swept through the Chicago area shortly after midnight, meteorologists from the National Weather Service in Romeoville said.

Officials said winds gusted at about 50 mph in the Chicago area and there were periods of heavy rain throughout the storm.

"But, we didn't really have a whole lot of damage reports in the Chicago metro area," said meteorologist Tim Seeley. "The strongest storms were mainly south of the metro area and in Indiana and Missouri."

He said O'Hare International Airport saw about a half an inch of rain overnight, where as villages in the far northwest suburbs picked up about an inch.

Commonwealth Edison officials reported less than 4,000 people were without power as of 7 a.m.

A tornado in Kirksville, Mo. killed one person and injured several other residents on Wednesday after tearing through the town. Seeley said about two dozen twisters were spotted throughout the storm system, with only one reported in Illinois.