Monster storms hammer Chicago as airports shut down and power fails
The National Weather Service issued tornado warnings across Illinois, Kansas, northern Missouri and southern Iowa, while severe thunderstorm watches were in place for parts of the Great Lakes
Kass
Damaging storms tore through the Midwest on Wednesday, leaving hundreds of thousands without power and causing over a thousand flight delays and cancellations at Chicago’s major airports.
The severe weather prompted widespread warnings and significant disruption across several states.
The National Weather Service issued tornado warnings for parts of Illinois, Kansas, northern Missouri, and southern Iowa, while severe thunderstorm watches were active across sections of the Great Lakes region.
Chicago faced a particularly intense weather event, with initial storms in the afternoon felling trees and damaging buildings, followed by forecasts of further "damaging winds, a brief tornado or two, and localized torrential rainfall increasing the risk for flash flooding" as storms moved eastward across northern Illinois.
Both Chicago O’Hare International Airport and Chicago Midway International Airport temporarily halted all flights in the evening due to the thunderstorms.
A similar ground stop was also implemented at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York.
By Wednesday evening, more than 1,000 flights into and out of Chicago had been either delayed or canceled, according to flight tracking website FlightAware.
The storms inflicted considerable physical damage across the region. In the Chicago area, strong winds ripped part of the roof off an apartment building, forcing residents to evacuate.
Elsewhere, barns collapsed in Wisconsin, buildings were crushed in rural northern Missouri, and numerous large trees and power lines were downed across other parts of the Midwest, as evidenced by online photos and videos.
Power outages were extensive, with over 264,000 customers in Illinois, predominantly in Cook County, losing electricity.
Nearly 140,000 customers in Michigan also experienced blackouts, alongside outages reported in Kansas, Wisconsin, Iowa, Indiana, and Ohio.
Commonwealth Edison Company, which serves northern Illinois, confirmed that the storms had brought down poles and wires, stating on X: "We know this is challenging and will restore service as safely and quickly as conditions allow."
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson issued a warning to residents on Wednesday afternoon, anticipating intensifying conditions that could include tornadoes, severe thunderstorms, damaging winds, and flash flooding.
He urged the public to "Ensure you have access to a safe place to take shelter, stay tuned to weather updates, and check on your neighbors."
