Storms kill power, touch off flooding in suburbs

"Darkness at Noon" wasn't just a book title, it was the weather report Friday.

A series of major storms rumbled across the Chicago area and turned morning into night, leaving residents scrambling the rest of the day and into the weekend as they dealt with the heavy rainfall and power outages.

More than 200 flights were canceled at O'Hare International Airport, and by Friday night delays for arrivals and departures were averaging more than two hours. Heavy rainfall also slowed traffic in and around O'Hare Friday morning, when flooding was reported on parts of Mannheim Road, one of many roads across the region that were submerged.

Delays were less of a problem at Midway Airport, as the storms struck heaviest to the north. Delays averaged 90 minutes, with minor cancellations, although the Chicago Department of Aviation advised air travelers to check their flight status at either airport before departing.

The worst parts of the storm hit Cook and Lake counties. ComEd spokeswoman Marie Turrell said 112,000 customers were without power in northern Illinois as of 10 p.m. Friday. The northern suburbs were hit especially hard with nearly 37,000 customers without power. She said 280 crews were out working to restore power.

Another ComEd spokeswoman, Kim Johnson, said, "Our regional and central emergency offices have been activated, and we have been monitoring the weather. We are reminding customers to assume downed power lines are dangerous, and they should stay away."

All-news WBBM 780-AM was knocked off the air for about 30 minutes at midday when its Itasca transmitter lost power.

A downed power line forced all lanes of I-355 near 63rd Street in Downers Grove to close for nearly two hours. Both directions were open to traffic at 10:22 p.m., according to Illinois State Police.

A lightning bolt started a house fire on the 800 block of Canterbury Drive in Crystal Lake about 9:15 a.m. Friday. No one was reported injured, but the house was ruled uninhabitable with an estimated $50,000 in damage.

Lightning hit an Antioch home shortly before 7 p.m. Friday on the 1500 block of Eagle Ridge Drive. A passer-by notified the occupants, who escaped unharmed. Authorities have yet to determine a damage estimate but said residents could return to the home since the fire was contained to the attic and an upstairs bedroom.

Many roads were overcome with water.

The eastbound Interstate 90 offramp was closed for about an hour at Arlington Heights Road, where drainage couldn't keep up with the rainfall. The Tri-State Tollway was also plagued briefly by collecting water, mostly in construction zones.

Quentin Road in Schaumburg was closed for a time, as were a half-dozen streets in Hoffman Estates. Mount Prospect police closed off flooded streets as well. "There haven't been any accidents," said officer Greg Sill, "but we are seeing some cars stuck in the water, especially at Elmhurst and Algonquin and along Dempster Street."

Mount Prospect police continued rerouting drivers off Algonquin Road onto Busse Road through the evening due to flooding near Linneman Road. Crews had to fix flood-related gas leaks at Elmhurst Road.

Arlington Heights police closed Ironwood at Euclid, but otherwise, Director of Public Works Scott Shirley reported that some streets were flooded but not impassable. "We got a break in between the storms," he said, "which lets the system do its work."

Elgin spokeswoman Sue Olafson advised residents to be extra careful driving, as the city was hit with more than an inch of rain in 45 minutes, flooding certain low-lying intersections. "We advise people to use caution," she said.

Crews worked nonstop in Mount Prospect to pump water back into the Des Plaines River, which was expected to crest overnight. River Road remained open late Friday, and Mount Prospect police Cmdr. John Gross said crews were cautiously optimistic that the river wouldn't flood.

Public works employees in Algonquin closed Woods Creek Lake and several parks to clean up debris from flooding, but all were open by late Friday as much of the area returned to semi-normalcy.

Meteorologists from the National Weather Service canceled a tornado warning for northern Kane County and southern McHenry County, but the weather service issued flash-flood and river-flood warnings for Lake, Cook and DuPage counties due to the amount of rain that fell overnight and into the morning.

The storms that hit overnight grew over Wisconsin, but the line that rumbled across the area in midmorning developed over Iowa before moving to the east.

"There's definitely some clearing behind it," said meteorologist Andy Boxell. "It's entirely possible we could get some air-mass recovery."

Yet he cautioned that, given the saturated, steamy air and a cold front set to arrive early Friday evening, there was also the possibility of renewed storms. The weather service predicted a 95 percent chance of showers with over a half-inch of rainfall expected for the night at O'Hare before the weather was expected to clear.

That had the potential to create new problems as rainwater moved through the river system.

Kent McKenzie, head of the Lake County Emergency Management Agency, said flash flooding could recur, but that it remains unclear if the major rivers are in jeopardy.

A river flood warning was issued in Lake County for the Des Plaines River, expected to slightly exceed flood level by Saturday afternoon near Gurnee, and for the Fox River, expected to crest in Wisconsin late Saturday or early Sunday. But there was enough reserve on the Chain O' Lakes to prevent Fox flooding, and the Des Plaines was expected to crest about 2 feet below where homes are affected.

The Lake County Stormwater Management System did issue a Green Flood Alert. Otherwise, damage was minimal in Lake County, except for an area in the southwest part of the county where three-quarter-inch hail fell.

The heavy storm system produced rainfall amounts of 2 inches or more.

And at some points Friday, the threat of a tornado was in the air.

A tornado was spotted near Huntley at 9:10 a.m., but the rotation weakened as it moved east at about 25 miles per hour. Tornado sirens did sound in Cary, though, after the funnelcloud was spotted.

Another severe-thunderstorm watch passed by midafternoon for Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake and McHenry counties and the towns of Aurora, Wheaton, Belvidere and Woodstock.

All that came after severe thunderstorms hammered northern Illinois overnight in the early hours of Friday, with minor flood warnings issued throughout southern Lake and northern Cook counties, while the Western suburbs missed the brunt of the storm.

National Weather Service meteorologist Tim Halbach said between 1 and 2 inches of rain fell overnight.

"We skirted most of the worst of the storm," he said. "A couple storms produced some wind damage and hail in southern Wisconsin, but it missed most of Illinois."

He said some wind damage causing small tree limbs to fall was reported in Zion, and a small-stream flood advisory had been put into effect.

• Daily Herald staff writers Lee Filas, Diana Wallace, Sheila Ahern, James Kane, Eric Peterson, Lenore Adkins, Larissa Chinwah, Jameel Naqvi, Marie Wilson, Marni Pyke and Kimberly Pohl contributed to this report.

Stormy: WBBM radio was knocked off the air for 30 minutes at midday

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