A fast-moving storm with 99 mph winds raced through the Chicago area, leaving a path of destruction focused on the south suburbs and northwest Indiana and hundreds of thousands powerless.
It was too early to say if tornadoes touched down in far southern Cook County and northern Will County, where National Weather Service tornado teams would survey.
Tornado and thunderstorm warnings expired early in the afternoon, after around 1 or 2 inches of rain likely fell, Weather Service meteorologist Scott Baker said.
The Gary/Chicago International Airport reported wind gust of 99 mph around 11 a.m. There were reports of 81 mph winds in South Barrington, and 70 mph in Oak Lawn.
The strongest squalls erupted through a “kind of a corridor,’’ south and southwest throughout Cook County, possibly touching a little bit of DuPage and Kendall, Kane counties, Baker said.
Damage was reported across the Chicago region.
About 357,000 ComEd customers were affected by the weather, said a ComEd spokesman. By 3:30 p.m., the number of outages was down to 250,000.
The storms also wreaked havoc on air travel.
Delays averaged 90 minutes at O’Hare with a total of 259 cancellations in the early afternoon, according to FlyChicago.com. At Midway conditions were less severe, with 40-minute delays and only a handful of cancellations.
Power lines fell into the roadway on 175th Street in Tinley Park and on Kedzie Avenue in Flossmoor, according to Cook County emergency alerts.
People on social media posted photos of downed trees in Gary and Munster, Indiana, and several south and southwest suburbs.
Late last month, several storms ravaged the area, leaving neighborhoods in the south suburbs picking up the pieces after seven tornadoes touched down — damaging homes, uprooting trees and adding to what has already been an active tornado season in Illinois.
A lakeshore flood advisory, including for the southern half of Cook County, does remain in effect until 5 p.m.
Eighteen total counties in Illinois were affected, including Cook County, with areas extending across northern and central portions of the state. Also including Livingston County in central Illinois; Ford and Iroquois counties in east-central Illinois; and Boone, DeKalb, La Salle, Lee, Ogle and Winnebago counties in north-central Illinois.
The storms were expected to give way to cooler temperatures and a chance of light showers.
Tuesday night should stay pretty mild and Wednesday the temperatures will climb back into the the low 80s.
“We’re in a real unsettled weather pattern now,” Baker said. “It’s just wet and humid and everybody’s like, ‘OK, we’re done with this.’”