Chicago weather: Isolated storms possible Tuesday night as severe threat diminishes for most of area
Downed trees caused power outages, Metra delays earlier Tuesday
CHICAGO (WLS) -- The Chicago area's severe storm threat started to diminish on Tuesday evening after a line of strong thunderstorms moved in earlier in the morning, ABC7 Chicago Meteorologist Cheryl Scott said.
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Much of the area started to dry out by 10 p.m., though there is still potential for isolated showers and storms Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, Scott said.
Non-severe scattered storms and showers are expected on Wednesday.
This comes after one line of storms began moving into the area around 6 a.m. Tuesday, bringing heavy rain, lightning and hail.
After the morning round of storms moved out of the area, the weather became hot and humid during the afternoon.
The Storm Prediction Center had areas south and west of the city at a level 2 risk for severe weather.
Chicago and some close north and northwest suburbs were under a Level 1 risk.
Large hail and high winds were the main concerns, along with localized flooding.
Earlier storms blew through the area fast, snapping a large branch from a tree in Skokie.
It took down a power line, knocking out power for the whole block.
ComEd crews have the road blocked off while they clean up the debris and try to turn the power back on.
Neighbors are just happy the tree branch didn't fall on any homes, which would've caused more problems. But it did prevent some from heading out to work.
One neighbor said she heard the tree fall around 4:15 a.m. near Madison Street and East Prairie Road in Skokie.
"It sounded like this giant crash, and I assumed for a second that it was just our patio umbrella crashing on our glass coffee table. But it wasn't and came out to hear all this," Sabrina Ehmke said. "Our power is knocked out. We don't have anything, trying to get some ice right now, keep things cold in the fridge. We've definitely had a power outage, not often, but occasionally, but never this serious. Usually it's back within an hour or two. They've told us later this afternoon, and they kind of keep pushing it back. But you can see why. Plus, it keeps raining and thundering and lightning, too. So, we don't want them to get injured either."
Rain also came down heavy in downtown Chicago, as people were making their way to work.
People were spotted getting soaked trying to run under some sort of shelter.
Umbrellas were outmatched for the intense wind and rain.
Over at the airports, nearly every flight was delayed at Midway after a ground stop was issued, which the storm caused. O'Hare also experienced heavy flight delays.
Metra also had delays over reports of a tree on the tracks on the Milwaukee District North Line heading inbound into Chicago.
In far northwest suburban Marengo, a man was indirectly injured by a lightning strike, fire officials said.
Fire crews responded just after 7 a.m. to the 2600-block of Hawthorn Road for a person reportedly struck by lightning.
An employee on property in the area suffered minor to moderate injuries, and was taken to OSF Saint Anthony Medical Center in Rockford.
Fire officials said they believe lightning hit a nearby tree, and connected with the man through the ground.
