Storms through suburbs take out power, disrupt travel
Storms came in with driving wind, rain and lightning Monday evening, but damage from the earliest line of bad weather was largely limited to lightning strikes and downed power lines and trees, officials said.
An early line of storms moved into the area around 6 p.m., disrupting air and train travel and leaving about 63,000 ComEd customers without power as of 10 p.m.
Airlines reported more than two-hour delays with 450 flights canceled at O'Hare International Airport and the majority of Southwest flights at Midway Airport canceled.
Tornado sirens sounded in Aurora after spotters thought they saw a funnel cloud and power lines were downed throughout the city.
Frequent cloud-to-ground lightning was reported by trained spotters in Naperville, and in Villa Park, 60 mph winds that bent large trees were reported.
In Lake County, spotters reported a funnel cloud near Gages Lake.
In Algonquin, as storms rolled into the area just before 6:30 p.m., lightning struck a two-story home and put a hole through the roof and an interior closet but did not start a fire, said Huntley Protection District Lt. Ken Madziarek.
The family was home at the time, but nobody was injured.
In Vernon Hills, a two-story house on the 100 block Midway Lane was struck by lightning, but damage was limited to the exterior Countryside Fire Protection District officials said. Nobody was injured.
At Midway Airport, winds gusted up to 50 mph and 1.18 inches of rain fell in 13 minutes.
A second, stronger line of storms brought 82 mph winds to the Bolingbrook area just after 10 p.m.
• Daily Herald news services contributed to this report.