At least five tornadoes confirmed, thousands still without power
More than 100,000 people were still without power Tuesday evening after severe storms rolled through the Chicago area late Monday, spawning multiple tornadoes, uprooting trees, downing power lines and killing at least one person in Indiana.
So far, survey teams from the National Weather Service in Chicago have confirmed five tornadoes, including three EF-1 category twisters. The EF-1 tornadoes were confirmed in Channahon, Chicago’s west side and West Loop neighborhood, and Oswego. EF-0 tornadoes touched down near Bridgeview and Crown Point, Indiana.
Thirteen tornado warnings were issued Monday night.
“It’s certainly one of the more higher level events we’ve had in some time,” said Zachary Yack, a National Weather Service meteorologist. “We’ve still got close to 25 more locations we need to get to and survey.”
The storm moved quickly from Iowa through the northern part of the state between 5 p.m. and 11 p.m. The first suburban twisters were reported around 9 p.m.
Wind gusts of up to 75 mph were recorded at O’Hare International Airport and 55 mph at Midway International Airport, according National Weather Service meteorologists.
It could take several days for the survey teams to complete those site inspections, officials said.
It was the second day in a row for tornadoes in the area. Sunday storms brought three EF-0, the least destructive types, through the Chicago area.
Yack said the tornado season should be winding down.
“We usually reach our peak in late June and early July, so we should begin to taper off with this kind of activity later this month and into August,” he noted.
ComEd was reporting more than 100,000 customers were without power at 5 p.m. Tuesday. At its peak, nearly 300,000 customers were left without electricity after the storm.
“Based on the history of similar storms of this size across the ComEd service area, we expect 80% of outages to be restored by Wednesday at 3 p.m., and the remaining customers restored by Friday at 6 p.m.,” ComEd officials stated on the company’s website.
Authorities in Northwest Indiana reported a 44-year-old woman died after a large tree landed on her house. No other storm-related injuries were immediately reported.
Interstate 55 near Channahon is closed due to downed power lines and expected to remain closed for at least 24 hours, possibly longer, according to the Illinois Department of Transportation.
North Avenue in Bartlett was closed between Western and Oak avenues most of the day Tuesday, also due to downed power lines.
Temperatures are expected to drop Wednesday, with highs likely in the upper 70s to lower 80s with less humidity all the way into the weekend.