There’s damage everywhere, and there’s still no letup in the rain.
Hours after a fast-moving storm packing winds over 70 mph turned skies from day to night across the Chicago area Thursday — damaging buildings, splitting trees, causing flooding, and bringing planes and trains to a halt — the rain continued to fall.
A severe thunderstorm watch was in effect until midnight, and a flash flood watch was in effect for much of the area through late Friday night.
Occasional showers and thunderstorms will continue through Friday, with heavy rainfall and damaging winds possible. No break in the wet conditions is forecast until Saturday.
Power outages peaked at 9 p.m. when ComEd reported that 310,000 customers were without power in northern Illinois, spokesman Tom Stevens said. Stevens said some customers are expected to still be without power Friday, and some could be offline into the weekend.
Several highways in the area were closed Thursday due to high water, Illinois State Police said. The closures were the northbound and southbound lanes of the Edens Expressway at Winnetka Road, and Interstate 90 westbound at Belmont Avenue. As of 10 p.m., both had been reopened.
Thousands of Metra commuters were stranded aboard trains in the west and northwest suburbs Thursday night after power lines downed by the storms brought trains to a halt.
As of 8:30 p.m., delays were averaging more than 2Q hours for all flights in and out of O’Hare. At Midway, delays were averaging 1Q to 2 hours with some canceled flights.
In Chicago, the roof of a high-rise building was blown onto Inner North Lake Shore Drive, and the storm shattered the glass of a revolving door to the front entrance of the Chicago History Museum at 1601 N. Clark St. No one was injured.
A large piece of metal scaffolding at Northwestern Memorial Hospital’s Prentice Women’s Hospital collapsed, and two people suffered minor injuries but refused treatment, said Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford.
The back wall of a four-story building in the 2700 block of North Ashland Avenue collapsed about 3:50 p.m. due to weather conditions, Langford said. No injuries were reported. The building was under construction.
A line of trees was uprooted on Logan Square Boulevard. Shoppers on North Michigan Avenue were soaked and rushed into nearby buildings by security workers.
About 3:30 p.m., along Michigan Avenue in downtown Chicago, the sunny skies suddenly turned dark and sheets of rain pounded the sides of buildings and sidewalks. Less than a half hour before, people gathered at parks and beaches along the lakefront enjoying a steamy afternoon.
Overall, damage was widespread, extensive and spookily uniform. Communities across the region faced a massive cleanup job Friday and flooding threatened to disrupt the morning commute.
So much rain fell that the region’s Deep Tunnel System was overwhelmed, forcing officials to open locks that released water and untreated sewage into Lake Michigan.
The CTA anticipated no problems for the Friday morning rush, officials said. CTA trains, delayed earlier in the afternoon, were up and running by 6 p.m., said spokeswoman Wanda Taylor.
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BY THE NUMBERS
A numerical twist on Thursday?s wicked weather:
2001: Last time, before today, that all aircraft in the Chicago region were completely grounded. In 2001, it was because of the terrorist attacks.
1,900: Phone calls to emergency officials between 3:30 and 4 p.m.
73 mph: Strongest confirmed wind gust in the immediate Chicago area
310,000: Customers without power at the height of the storm.
884: Reports city received of tree limbs in streets during first hour of storm.
40: Injured in West Chicago roof collapse at truck parts distributor.
