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Over 230,000 ComEd customers are still without power following last night's powerful storms that swept through the area, downing trees and power lines. The Chicago Department of Streets and Sanitation had reports of 1,438 damaged trees, 158 malfunctioning traffic signals, 69 damaged street light poles, 112 downed wires, and 212 city blocks without working street lights. The first line of storms pushed through the city shortly after 8 p.m. and were followed by a second, slightly weaker round shortly after 11 p.m. Tornadoes were reported in Schiller Park and in Elmhurst but there were no reports within the Chicago city limits.
The storms sent several Chicagoist staffers scurrying to basements and various shelters (some of us were unfortunate enough to be stuck outside), but at least we weren't at Wrigley where the storms sent fans watching the Cubs-Astros game scurrying for cover under the grandstand. The game was delayed over two-and-a-half hours before resuming play but was finally called after eight innings when the second round of storms hit just after 11 p.m.
Among other news bits from the storms:
- Wind gusts were over 60 mph as the storms moved through, with the highest (94 mph) being reported in the Harrison Crib area.
- Members of a youth baseball team were safely evacuated from St. Charles North High School where winds severely damaged the roof.
- One man in the Logan Square neighborhood was critically injured when he was struck by a falling tree, though there have been no other reports so far of other serious injuries.
- Three CTA bus routes (47, 87 and 88) were temporarily rerouted due to flooding. Those reroutes have since ended.
- A suspected tornado leveled a house and left a three-mile long trail of damage in Griffith, Indiana.
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I was like, WTF!
When the barometric pressure drops i get drowsy. I slept through the whole thing despite being woken up every 3 minutes.
i was at wrigley yesterday and it was insane!
i was luckily sitting the covered 200 level. at first it wasn't too bad and going below the deck wasn't appealing since it was packed with wet, smelly people.
i didn't worry until the sirens went on, the rain started gushing into the upper decks, and people started ducking in front of their seats.
after that, everyone was trying to exit or wait out the storm in the concourse level. it took forever to get out and the management kept reminding you that there was no re-entry. chaos.
fun night!
I've got video from Wrigley last night- people were freaking out!
Check it out
Man, I thought General Zod and gang were standing on Irving Park Rd. for a while.
What happens to news networks if they freak out during a broadcast like this, or if they wear raincoats in the studio and put on a schtick? Are there fines, or do they just get a dressing down?
(By freaking out in the studio, I mean not that they worry about their own safety, but say they are reporting about a tornado that is probably leveling their house at that moment.)
I watched the storm from my stoop, which is mostly covered.
Damen flooded almost instantly, which is funny considering they just tore it up for "storm drain repairs". Fine job. The water was coming up onto the sidewalk.
I loved watching the he-men in their SUVs hitting the flooded street only to hydroplane and stall out. At least 4 cars just DIED right by my place. Note to SUV owners: Commercials are not reality. You cannot forage a river in your Canyonero.
We heard the siren, gathered the family and headed to the laundry room/basement. In about 3 minutes a waterfall was pouring down the stairs and we were all standing in 6 inches of water. Unreal.
Yegads, the lightening in that video just wrapped itself around that building! I woulda crapped my pants if I were in there.
i was in an auditorium at IL masonic hospital. it's like a bunker in there. i had NO clue what was going on. i'm sort of bummed. i LOVE exciting weather.
was there *really* a tornado in the city. somehow, i always think the city is exempt from tornado(e)s.
+10 to albanyparkour for referencing the canyonero!
I'm in Edgewater on Bryn Mawr and Sheridan, did anybody else hear that nifty siren going off? It's not like the old air raid sirens, it's a new melodic type of siren. Pretty cool.
Otherwise yeah that was pretty intense. The waves on the lake were crashing all crazy. Funny because I was waiting all day to just relax and watch the Cubs game. So much for that. Oh well another one on in half an hour!
Channel 11 totally freaked out & went on PANIC WATCH last night, interrupting the audio every 5-10 minutes with those automated Weather Service warnings.
They did that on at least two of their channels.
IMPORTANT NOTE TO CHANNEL 11: When you overdo weather warnings & nothing really bad happens, guess what else happens?
Everyone ignores your warnings!
Just because conditions develop that MAY cause a tornado are out there, there's no guarantee that one will develop.
It also doesn't help that one of the warnings came five minutes after the storms was out over the lake.
It gets one highway, zero city.
Sing along kids...
12 yards long, 2 lanes wide,
65 tons of American Pride!
Canyonero! Canyonero!
Top of the line in utility sports,
Unexplained fires are a matter for the courts!
Canyonero! Canyonero! (Yah!)
She blinds everybody with her super high beams,
She's a squirrel crushing, deer smacking, driving machine!
Canyonero!-oh woah, Canyonero! (Yah!)
Scooter: if you have cable, the weather service warnings were on every station for a while. They broke in with their black screen and that computerized voice, not just on Channel 11, but every station.
Of course there's no guarantee that a tornado will develop, but frankly I'd rather have the warning. Is it overkill? Sure. But the warnings were very helpful in telling me when I should seek cover (in my case 8:15pm, which was right on).
I live in a highrise and have those windows that open in and down toward me. I face west, and when that wind picked up, I had to use my entire body to shut my window against the wind. The wind also forced a good bit of water past the seals before I noticed, ruining a few things that were sitting near the window. Shit.
Other than that, it was AWESOME. Great lightning, and amazing watching the pre-storm minutes, while everything was still calm, lightning was going nuts, and then slowly watching the rain cloud creep up on you until BAM.
Man, storms are great from the 18th floor.
The Weather Channel actually noted a Tornado Warning; some spotters said they saw circular motions in the clouds, but not a funnel.
attn COM ED: TURN MY SHIT BACK ON PLEASE.
i am terrified and mesmerized by those computer-generated weather reports. i was camping with my sister and a friend last fall when we had a swath of bad weather. sis cranked the radio and we listened in otherwise near silence.. needless to say i didn't sleep well that night. uncanny vocal valley.
tell me someone else spent the night in their pantry? by the time the storms came it was too late to hide in the laundry room, and every other room in my place has windows...
sparky: It's overkill!
We get this every winter, snow is coming, FLEE THE CITY!
We used to get this worthless crap all the time when John Coleman was at Channel 7. Now Coleman is planning lawsuits against Al Gore claiming global warming is a myth!
You don't interrupt unless there is an actual tornado.
You just put up a crawl or as Channel 2 does, a beep, the screen shrinks for a minute, but you can still watch the program.
Rotating winds don't count, I've seen those in the city my whole life.
And I certainly don't want warnings for Indiana.
I don't give a shit about Indiana!
Nothing good has ever come out of Indiana except maybe for Letterman & you notice he rarely goes back there.
So, I repeat, don't cry wolf!
Uh, Scooter, you're joking, right? Or perhaps you do not understand weather?
When a tornado has been spotted, it may be too late to take cover, depending on where you are.
It's hard to compare winter storm warnings (more predictable, first of all, and does not usually put anyone in immediate life threatening danger) with tornado warnings (tornado can form in minutes, unpredictable path leaving devastation in its wake).
Uh, and Indiana is part of the viewing area, dumbass. So they are going to warn the viewing area.
But I heard that Tom Skilling is sending you a personal letter of apology for inconveniencing you while you watch "I Survived a Japanese Gameshow" or whatever the hell you were watching last night. I told him it was not necessary, but Tom Skilling insisted.