Storm knocks out power to thousands in Chicago area
Little rain expected this week, but highs likely to stay in the 90s
July 02, 2012|By Naomi Nix, Erin Meyer and Liam Ford, Chicago Tribune reporters
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Chad Pechman surveys his yard after a neighbor's tree fell through the roof of his home during a storm in West Chicago on Sunday. The family moved into the house Saturday. (Scott Strazzante, Chicago Tribune)
Just when Chicagoans were getting used to a heat wave, severe thunderstorms battered the area Sunday, knocking out power for hundreds of thousands of Commonwealth Edison customers and changing travelers' plans.
There might be more trying weather to come, forecasters said. Highs are expected to remain in the 90s through the rest of the week, with a 30 percent chance of rain Monday and a 20 percent chance of rain Wednesday.
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"We'll probably not see much rain after tomorrow," said Kevin Birk, an Illinois-based meteorologist at the National Weather Service. "Really the main story will just be the heat."
The late-morning storm, which developed across north-central Illinois with wind gusts of up to 90 mph in some areas, destroyed power lines, damaged roofs and caused delays and cancellations for travelers.
Thousands of homeowners and businesses were affected, and ComEd deployed 360 crews to fix broken power lines and other equipment, spokesman Tony Hernandez said. At its peak, the storm cut off power to about 250,000 customers. By about 8 p.m., there were 155,000 customers without power, mostly in the northern region hardest hit by the storm.
"It was quite a flood that came through. ... Weather forecasters were saying there were winds of up to 90 miles per hour, and that's what caused the damage to our equipment," Hernandez said Sunday night. "Our crews will work throughout the evening until everyone is back on the grid."
By 8:30 p.m., airlines atO'Hare International Airporthad canceled more than 125 flights, mostly because of the stormy weather, according to the Chicago Department of Aviation.
"There were no flight operations for a very short period of time while the thunderstorm passed," said Karen Pride, the department's director of media relations. Flights at Midway Airport experienced delays of about 30 minutes, but none was canceled, Pride said.
Metra also reported several weather-related delays, with trains on the Union Pacific/Northwest Line stopped and trains on the UP/West Line stopped or significantly behind schedule near West Chicago.
"We have had some delays ... because of the heavy rains, winds and lightning," said Tom Miller, a Metra spokesman.
Numerous viaducts in Chicago were temporarily flooded, and a tree fell on a car with a person inside in the 6600 block of North Kostner Avenue. Fire Department rescuers were able to free the person, and the victim did not need medical treatment, department spokeswoman Meg Ahlheim said.
In the morning, temperatures reached a high of about 90 degrees, but when the storm hit they fell to the 70s, Birk said.
"When a thunderstorm does move across the area, it can really wreck havoc on the temperatures," he said. "As the thunderstorms started to clear out ... the temperatures started to move back up again."
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The thunderstorm arrived in Kane and Kendall counties about 11:30 a.m., and intensified about noon in Kane and DuPage counties. By about 1 p.m., the storm hit downtown Chicago and traveled along the lakefront toward the Indiana border, according to the weather service.
In addition to the rain, the storm produced wind gusts of 90 mph in Winfield, 80 mph winds in Elmhurst, 61 mph winds atO'Hare International Airport, and 75 mph winds in West Chicago.
The fierce wind made conditions dangerous Sunday for kayakers in two tour groups on the Chicago River. About 60 kayakers on the river near Chicago Avenue were rescued after they had trouble navigating because of choppy water and high winds, police and fire officials said. No one suffered injuries severe enough to require they be taken to a hospital.
"The children were screaming for help," Chicago police Officer David Ramos said at a Sunday news conference in the Loop. "It was very vicious. Many people could have gotten hurt. Thank God they didn't."
Most of the kayakers were novices, but all were wearing life jackets.
"Personal flotation devices saved their lives. Had they not been wearing them, it would have been a very difficult rescue," Deputy District Chief Ron Dorneker said.
Despite the damage it caused, the storm is not likely to have a significant affect on Chicago's drought.
Rainfall at O'Hare amounted to less than one-hundredth of an inch, while areas where the storm was more intense — like Kane and DuPage counties — saw slightly more than an inch of rainfall, according to the weather service.
"Does that rain help locally for a while? Yes," said Mark Svoboda, a climatologist with the National Drought Mitigation Center. "(But) we've got a ways to go to get out of the drought."
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