Tornado warning issued in Chicago area ahead of severe storms

Rotations were spotted on radar over the city amid high winds, as several tornadoes were spawned from an intense line of storms in northern Illinois and Indiana Thursday evening, according to the National Weather Service.

Though it could be days before the National Weather Service has a finalized report on the weather event — experts have to survey storm damage in person, as well as peruse satellite data once clouds clear — there were 12 tornado warnings issued across the state Thursday afternoon and evening, according to weather service officials. A preliminary report is expected Friday afternoon.

A tornado watch issued earlier spanned an area from northern Missouri to Northwest Indiana. It then was upgraded to a warning that was in effect until 8:45 p.m., ending 15 minutes before a severe thunderstorm warning was cleared for the area, according to the weather service. Tornadoes, hail and wind gusts up to 80 mph had been predicted for the Chicago area and northwest Indiana.

Radar indicated rotations at 8:30 p.m. along a “severe squall line” with 65 mph winds stretching from from Northerly Island to South Shore in the city, as well as out to suburban Riverdale, the weather service said.

Chicago Fire Department officials responded to arcing, downed power lines in Englewood and transformer fires at multiple locations across the city, including in the Clearing, Ashburn and Hyde Park, according to scanner traffic. More than 194,000 ComEd customers were without power by 10 p.m. Thursday, according to the company’s dashboard.

Tornadoes were confirmed in Streator, Illinois at 5:50 p.m., Braidwood at 6:36 p.m., Merrillville, Indiana at 7:31 p.m., Hobart, Indiana at 7:35 p.m., and suburban Bartlett at 7:55 p.m., according to the weather service. The Streator tornado was reported to have 140 to 170 mph winds.

Rotations were also confirmed in multiple places in Chicago, as well as throughout Illinois during the evening: Washburn at 5:20 p.m. — where social media videos appeared to show a tornado around the same time — as well as Dwight at 6:15 p.m. and Normal at 6:34 p.m. Vidoes of a tornado near Kenosha, Wisconsin also surfaced during the evening.

A tornado warning was issued for Kankakee County until 7:45 p.m. The area was hit by an EF-3 tornado in March that killed one person and destroyed 30 homes and 500 buildings.

The storms were enough to halt service on the South Shore Line commuter rail shortly before 9 p.m. It also led to the postponement of the slated White Sox matchup against the MLB-leading Atlanta Braves; the game will be played Aug. 20.

At the city’s other big-league ballpark, Mumford and Sons vowed to let the show go on, though it had still not started by the promised 10 p.m. at Wrigley Field.

O’Hare saw 844 cancellations between 9 p.m. Wednesday and the same time Thursday, and Midway saw 39, according to city data.

A flood watch is also in effect until 11 p.m., weather officials said. Multiple rounds of heavy showers and thunderstorms are possible in the afternoon and evening, with rain rates up to 1 to 3 inches per hour. Chicago and the immediate surrounding areas saw half an inch to an inch and a half by 6 p.m., ahead of the second wave of storms.

The warning was issued a day after heavy rainfall and damaging winds swept through the area, causing widespread power outages and downed trees. About an inch of rain fell throughout the area Wednesday afternoon with wind speeds reaching over 70 mph, weather officials said.