When Irving Park neighborhood resident Alice Rowland heard that a second round of potentially severe weather was forecasted for Thursday evening, she put her hands over her face and let out a worried laugh.”I guess I’m not going to that baseball game.”
“It’s just a little scary,” added Rowland, who canceled plans to attend a Chicago Dogs game in Rosemont over weather concerns. “The city hasn’t had time to respond to this.”
Widespread power outages, halts to train service, flight cancellations and downed trees continued to impact the Chicago area Thursday morning.
A tornado watch and flash flood watch were both in effect for Cook County until 9 p.m. and 11 p.m. Thursday, respectively, said Kevin Doom, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, who anticipated showers before the “main show” approaches sometime between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m.
Doom noted it was difficult to determine whether Thursday’s round of storms will be worse than Wednesday, but he doesn’t rule out the possibility.
“It’s tough to say if the strongest storms are going to be real widespread or if they’re going to target a particular area,” Doom said. “But I will say the environment in general actually looks a little bit better for severe weather than it did yesterday.”
Roughly an inch of rain fell throughout the Chicago area Wednesday afternoon with wind speeds reaching over 70 mph, according to the NWS. The potential for more severe weather Thursday creates a risk for flash flooding.
“We’ve already had at least some minor flooding and ponding issues around much of the metro from last night,” said Doom. “While a lot of that is receded now, you know that water is still in the ground … so the area is essentially a little bit more susceptible to flooding.”
For Irving Park residents on North Sawyer Avenue and West Byron Street, Wednesday’s storms were fast yet intense.
“I think these trees came down within the first 30 seconds of that wind burst, and then all I could see were just the trees whipping around and wondering what more was going to come down,” Rowland, 60, said. “For 15 or 20 minutes, it was pretty bad.”
“It’s peaceful and then all of a sudden, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, the rain came down really heavy,” Bill Anderson, a 35-year resident of the neighborhood said.
Anderson, 78, didn’t have any damages to his home despite several large tree branches falling to the street during the storms.
“I know a lot of these people, they’re having it way worse than I am,” Anderson said. “I prayed to God, that’s all I can do.”
Wednesday’s storms were caused by a “large, prolific storm system” over southern and central Canada moving toward the Midwest, according to the weather service. The system has been blowing humid air toward the region, which sets the stage for severe thunderstorms Thursday.
“It’s gonna be real hot, real humid today so it’s very similar to yesterday,” Doom said Thursday. “It’s a cyclic pattern of [a] prime severe weather environment.”
Rowland plans to be more prepared for Thursday night’s weather has been urging loved ones and friends to take the forecast seriously as the window for severe weather approaches.
“I am going to make sure that all my stuff is charged … and then I’m just gonna call a few people and let them know they should plan.”
The impact of Wednesday’s storms were still being felt throughout the Chicago area. Over 133,000 ComEd customers remain without power as of 2:30 p.m. Thursday, according to the agency’s power outage map. During the height of Wednesday’s storm’s the number of impacted customers reached north of 240,000.
At O’Hare International Airport, at least 530 flights have been canceled while another 736 have been delayed as of 2:30 p.m., according to FlightAware. At Midway, at least 34 flights were canceled and 150 more were delayed.
On the ground, CTA Yellow Line trains were on the move again after service was halted for roughly two hours early Thursday after a tree limb fell onto the tracks near the Oakton station in Skokie after heavy thunderstorms and wind raced through the area overnight.
The service suspension was first announced around 5:40 a.m. and trains were running with residual delays by about 7:50 a.m., according to an alert from CTA.
Thousands of 311 calls were made by residents due to Wednesday’s storms. 4,114 calls were classified as a “tree emergency,” an additional 1,496 were for tree debris, 323 were for malfunctioning traffic lights, 188 for downed wires, and over 250 calls were related to flooding as of 6 a.m. Thursday, according to the Office of Emergency Management and Communications.
The Markham Courthouse was temporarily closed due to a power outage from Wednesday’s storms and some cases slated for Thursday were being moved to the Fifth Municipal District Courthouse in Bridgeview.
“Our priority is ensuring the safety of litigants, attorneys, court employees, and members of the public while maintaining access to essential court services,” said Chief Judge Charles S. Beach II in a statement announcing the closure. “The Court has taken steps to ensure that emergency matters, including criminal initial appearances and petitions seeking protective orders, continue to be heard without interruption during this temporary closure.”
Additionally, Branches 35 and 38 of the Circuit Court of Cook County also were impacted by a weather related power outage to their building at 727 E. 111th St. and all cases scheduled for Thursday will now be heard June 25, according to a press release from the Chief Judge’s Office.
Doom urges residents and commuters to remain aware of the forecast in their areas and act proactively by moving vehicles to their garages or bringing loose objects inside.
“We really want people to just keep an eye and take care of themselves and keep an eye on how things are evolving here later this afternoon,” Doom said.