according to National Weather Service Chicago, a tornado was on the ground around 7 p.m. Wednesday.
This tornado has touched down sporadically so far and is moving east. There is other traffic along the line south of O’Hare. Seek shelter if you are in the warning area. At 8 p.m., the Chicago metro area is “currently clear of a tornado warning,” the weather service said. The storm moved into Michigan before moving across the state and into Canada on Thursday. All Tornado Watches that were in effect in parts of Michigan, Indiana and Ohio have expired.
Videos from television stations showed hundreds of people holed up in a hall in O’Hare. According to flight-tracking service FlightAware, 173 flights have been canceled from the airport and more than 500 have been delayed.
Kevin Bargens, director of communications for O’Hare and Chicago Midway airports, told WGN-TV Wednesday night that no damage was reported at either airport.
the National Weather Service He had issued two tornado warnings for Chicago on Wednesday night. Tornado sirens sounded, warning people to seek shelter.
Longtime Chicago resident Lynn Baker posted a video to Twitter showing tornado sirens blaring across the city’s iconic landscape.
“I’m in a 60-story apartment building, so my options are somewhat limited,” he said. “I think we have to get to the heart of the building.”
Baker said the storm made headlines in the local media.
“There’s a panic when you look at the TV screen and everything is red…but the hope is that the damage is very minimal,” she said.
Local media reported that warehouses near the airport were damaged.
The weather service quoted an unidentified emergency manager as saying that a roof had collapsed in the Huntley community in McHenry County, northwest of Chicago. Firefighters and other emergency services were responding to downed power lines, downed trees and limbs, and power outages, Mike Pierce, chief of the Huntley Battalion, told ABC-7-TV. He added that the damage to the building appeared to be concentrated around two residential buildings.
According to poweroutage.us, more than 10,000 customers have lost power in the area.
In Hodgkins, southwest of Chicago, police reported storm damage and debris was found in the north end of town near a shopping mall.
Earlier Wednesday, the Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center said there is an increased risk of severe weather, including tornadoes, for northern Illinois, including Chicago.
Brett Borchardt, chief meteorologist for the National Weather Service, confirmed to WGN-TV that several tornadoes have struck the Chicago area. He said assessing the damage would likely take several days.
Over the years, many tornadoes have touched down in the Chicago metropolitan area, with several touchdowns in the city of Chicago itself, according to the National Weather Service. Between 1855 and 2021, the weather service recorded 97 major tornadoes in the Chicago metropolitan area.
The deadliest formed in Palos Hills, Cook County on April 21, 1967. The tornado traveled 16 miles (26 kilometers) through Oak Lawn and south of Chicago, killing 33 people, injuring 500 and causing more than $50 million in damage, according to the weather service.
