Chicago weather: Cleanup underway following widespread storm damage
CHICAGO - A long day of cleanup is underway after the Chicago area was slammed with severe storms Monday night.
Between 7:16 and 9:59 p.m., the National Weather Service in Chicago issued 15 tornado warnings. Another warning was issued earlier in the day.
The 15 tornado warnings issued on a single day ranks as the third-highest number ever recorded by the Chicago office. Fox 32 Meteorologist Mike Caplan said he's never seen anything like it in 40 years in this business.
The windstorm in general has been confirmed as a derecho. Derechos are storm systems with continuous wind damage for 400 miles (per NOAA’s updated 2022 definition), usually having a bow shape, and characterized by occasional extreme gusts and sometimes embedded tornados.
At one point, parts of nine contiguous counties in our viewing area were under a tornado warning. This will take some time to properly quantify and assess by the weather service. Work begins today. As does the cleanup and power-restoration process which at last check still has nearly a quarter-million customers without electricity.
The forecast for the next several days is much more quiet. There can be another spotty shower or sub-severe storm today but most areas will be dry. Highs will reach the mid to upper 80s with plenty of humidity.
Tonight will be partly cloudy and mild with lows in the 60s. Tomorrow will be mostly sunny and pleasant with highs not far from 80.
Thursday may not get out of the 70s. Skies will be mostly to partly sunny each day through the weekend with highs in the low to mid 80s.
Devastating storm leaves 400,000 Chicago area residents without power
ComEd has been working around the clock to restore power to customers across Chicagoland after rare severe weather system. ComEd's Neena Hemmady said at one point more then 430,000 customers were affected, but over night crews have restored power to 43%.
Severe Storm Aftermath
At one point Monday night, 430,000 ComEd customers were without power. As of Tuesday morning, ComEd said there were more than 5,354 active outages, affecting 180,708 customers.
ComEd said that 80% of customers should have their power restored by Wednesday night and 99% of customers will have their power restored by Friday evening.
Crews began working around the clock late Monday night. Strong winds knocked down several power lines in the city and the suburbs. One was still blocking traffic on Columbus Drive near Monroe Street.
Illinois State Police said I-55 south and northbound at Arsenal Road was closed as of 6 a.m. due to power lines on the roadway. The area is expected to be closed for 12-24 hours.
ComEd officials held a news conference Tuesday morning to outline their restoration plan. CEO Gil Quiniones and COO David Perez called the storm unprecedented.
Customers in Joliet, Freeport, Streator, and University Park were most affected by the storm, according to ComEd.
One person was killed after a tree fell on a home in Cedar Lake. The Lake County Coroner's Office identified the victim as 44-year-old Laura Nagel.
Northern Indiana Public Service Company (NIPSCO) said at the peak of the storm, 103,000 customers were without power. Crews worked through the night to bring the number down to 95,000 by 9 a.m.
The northwest portion of NIPSCO's service area was the most impacted, specifically the communities of Chesterton, Crown Point, East Chicago, Gary, Goshen, Griffith, Hammond, La Porte, Portage and Valparaiso.
Stay tuned for live updates.