Deniz Sidkey credits his neighbors with saving his life.
He had just returned from grabbing dinner at Jersey Mike’s Monday when he heard a tree snap outside his home in south suburban Lansing. Shortly after, the windows in his house shattered and debris began falling into the home as the storm raged outside.
While he was trapped in his “totaled” home, Sidkey’s wife went to ask neighbors for help. They flocked to Sidkey’s aid, some having never met him before.
“I’m lucky to be alive,” he said Monday evening. “My neighbors came to my rescue. It’s unbelievable, I don’t even know who the one guy is.”
Two rounds of severe thunderstorms rolled through the area Monday afternoon and evening, downing trees, delaying flights and leaving more than 300,000 without power. The National Weather Service issued its first alerts around noon Monday, and a tornado warning followed for west suburban and southwester suburban areas. The weather service hasn’t confirmed any tornadoes yet and said it will investigate reports of tornadoes starting Tuesday.
Lansing was hit hard by strong winds, ripping roofs off houses and moving vehicles. Resident Maryann Pozen wasn’t home when storms rattled the area, but she got word that her home had been damaged. When she got there, the scene at her home of nearly 40 years was jarring.
“Just trees everywhere, leaves everywhere, no roof on our house, the backyard totally destroyed, our neighbor’s house totally destroyed,” Pozen said Monday evening. “I just hope that a lot of my pictures are okay. I’m just glad we’re all okay. Just gotta move forward, that’s all we can do.”
Pozen commended her neighbors for checking on her and pitching in to help however they could. More than a dozen homes in the area sustained damage.
“All our neighbors just came out willing to help, that was beautiful, really,” Pozen said. “People I’ve never really met before were willing to help, which is really nice.”
Tiffany Fliszar-Rivera, who helped Sidkey get out of his home, said she hasn’t seen a storm this severe in her 30 years living in Lansing, but the way the neighborhood responded is a testament to its resilience and community bond.
“I’ve been here for 30 years for a reason and I’m proud to live here,” she said. “I’m very happy that everybody came out of the woodwork essentially and started helping each other, getting things together and making sure that people were safe.”
Fliszar-Rivera’s teenage son Colton Fliszar-Tatgenhorst went door-to-door checking on neighbors, asking if they needed him to help get people or belongings out of damaged homes.
“I tried to jump in as best I could,” he said. “I’m just so blessed that I didn’t get hurt but I’m also kind of upset because my neighbors are just in a bad place.”
The storms brought downed trees and flooded streets throughout Chicago and the suburbs, and left more than 315,000 ComEd customers were without power as of Monday evening, according to the company’s outage map. Outages spanned nearly the entire Chicago area, from Zion near the Wisconsin border to Calumet City near the Indiana border, and as far west as Aurora.
The storms caused serious flight delays at Chicago’s airports. Delays were approaching two hours at O’Hare Airport and around 45 minutes at Midway as of 2:30 p.m., according to the Federal Aviation Administration. High water covered many area roadways, slowing traffic.
More than 200 flights had been canceled at O’Hare, according to the Chicago Department of Aviation. Midway was mostly spared, with only two reported cancellations.
CTA Yellow and Purple lines reported service suspensions due to track debris.
The Weather Service issued a tornado warning shortly after noon, after radar showed tornado-capable storms and a “rotation” in west suburban Downers Grove. The storm continued moving southeast at 30 mph, according to an agency alert.
In Orland Park, the there were downed power lines and heavy tree damage.
Guy Marino, whose family has lived in the area nearly 60 years, called the storm “catastrophically worse” than any he’s been through in the area before.
The high winds damaged several large trees on Marino’s property, left some of his belongings, such as bird feeders, strewn elsewhere.
“This is my first one of this magnitude,” Marino said as he drove through Old Creek on his golf cart, surveying the damage. “We’ve never had one hit in this area this bad.”
Previous storms might have known down a tree or two but nothing like this, he said.
“Being outside would be hazardous as these storms move through,” said NWS meteorologist Scott Baker. “When thunder roars, go indoors.”
Forecast models have struggled to pinpoint rainfall totals because of the hot and humid conditions, Baker said. Rainfall amounts will likely vary significantly depending on where storms develop.
After weeks of seeing water levels subside at the two largest reservoirs in the Deep Tunnel flood-prevention system, both began filling up again. The Thornton reservoir rose to more than a third full Monday afternoon after previously dropping to under 30% full. The McCook reservoir in Bedford Park was two thirds full as of early Monday evening.
The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District, which manages Deep Tunnel and other flood prevention mechanisms, urged residents to conserve water in the wake of heavy rain to relieve sewer systems and prevent flooding.
The storms arrived on a day when the Chicago area already was under a heat advisory Monday, with heat index values expected to range from 100 to 110. As the rains subsided, a front of cooler air was expected to move through overnight into Tuesday, bringing temperatures in the low 80s Tuesday, Baker said.
Residents can call 311 to request well-being checks for neighbors and loved ones, according to the police department.
Contributing: Brett Chase
