Woman dead after at least 11 tornadoes, including 2 in city, hit Chicago region Monday night
Hundreds of thousands of people impacted by ComEd outages | South suburban portion of I-55 could be shut down for 3 days
CHICAGO (WLS) -- A woman was killed as strong storms created at least 11 tornadoes and caused widespread damage across northern Illinois and northwest Indiana Monday night.
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A 44-year-old woman was killed inside her Cedar Lake home when a tree fell on top of it, the Lake County, Indiana coroner's office said. She has been identified as Laura Nagel.
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ABC7 Chicago Meteorologist Cheryl Scott said a derecho, or a widespread, long-lived wind storm, hit the Chicago area. Derechos have a wind damage swath of more than 240 miles with wind gusts of at least 58 mph.
Approximately 14 tornado warnings were issued in the Chicago area late Monday night, with the possibility of 10 tornado touchdowns at the same time, Scott said.
The National Weather Service said preliminary information shows at least 11 tornadoes hit the Chicago region on Monday night, including:
- EF-1 tornado from Channahon to Matteson
- EF-1 tornado from Yorkville to Naperville
- EF-1 tornado on the Near West Side of Chicago to the far western portions of the Loop
- EF-1 tornado from Chicago Lawn to West Englewood
- EF-1 tornado from Cedar Lake to Crown Point
- EF-0 tornado in Justice
- EF-0 tornado from Crest Hill to Lockport
- EF-0 tornado in southern Winnebago County
- EF-0 tornado in Byron
- EF-0 tornado in Davis Junction
- EF-0 tornado from Sugar Grove to North Aurora
Two other confirmed tornadoes touched down in the city on Sunday. The NWS does not have any previous documentation of multiple tornadoes touching down in the Chicago city limits area on back-to-back days.
At least six Chicago-area tornadoes were confirmed on Sunday:
- EF-0 tornado in Elburn
- EF-0 tornado in St. Charles
- EF-0 tornado from La Grange to Cicero
- EF-0 tornado from Midway to Bronzeville
- EF-0 tornado in Esmond
- EF-0 tornado from Englewood to Jackson Park
The NWS is dispatching teams across the area to survey the damage from Monday night, which may take several days. There are 29 different paths of damage, with some from tornadoes and others from strong, high winds, Scott said.
NWS staff in Romeoville needed to shelter in place at their office because of a tornado warning.
"We have a fortified tornado shelter here, luckily, but we did see a pretty nice area of rotation that was heading for the office and then sure enough it passed just nearby," NWS meteorologist Kevin Doom said.
Doom said they are looking around two dozen potential areas where a tornado may have touched down based on radar data.
Tree smashes into NW Indiana home, killing woman
Officials said it was a massive tree limb killed 44-year-old Laura Nagel when it fell right on top of a house near 141st and Lauerman, puncturing through the roof.
"It was something I've never seen before," Haley Urbani, who lives next door, said. "The sky was lit up for seconds at a time, and the wind was just really picking up, and it was getting really scary, and I knew that something bad was going to happen."
Haley Urbani was watching the storm from her front porch when she saw the large branch snap from this tree.
"It was horrible, just the sound of it," Urbani said. "It was really terrible. I felt so bad for them in that moment. I know them well enough, so it was sad."
She said she immediately knew that something terrible had happened.
"I feel like in my heart, I knew that something happened when I saw that tree fall," Urbani said. "First responders pulled up maybe 10 minutes later. They did amazing. I watched them work, and it was pouring rain."
The Cedar Lake Public Works superintendent said Nagel was on her bed when the tree came piercing through the roof, smashing her, the mattress and bed frame all the way down to the floor. She was killed instantly.
"We found that the tree had pinned a female to the bed. It was a chaotic scene, frantically tried to do what we could," said Cedar Lake Fire Department Chief Todd Wilkening.
A co-worker told ABC7 Nagel was an X-ray technician at Lakeshore Bone & Joint Institute. Nagel's co-worker said she had worked there for a couple of years and described her as very loving, saying everyone connected with her.
The NWS later confirmed that an EF-1 tornado tore through Cedar Lake to Crown Point.
The home was taped off as Cedar Lake police investigated. Two other people, a child and an adult, were inside the home and were not injured, police said.
The tragedy happened shortly after 10 p.m. When the heavy winds and storm blew through, it took down several trees in the area with it.
Other structural damage was reported at several homes and buildings across northwest Indiana.
"Just hug your loved ones and tell them you love them because you never know," Urbani said.
In Valparaiso, a lot of the damage impacting people's yards creating a huge mess. But amazingly, city officials said, they have no reports of injuries.
Massive trees fell over near Chicago Street.
One tree's entire root system ripped up a huge chunk of turf. The silver lining is that it missed a couple's home by a matter of feet.
Jo Ellen and Art Raby said they didn't even hear the tree fall, they think, because it happened so slowly.
"Oh, we're just thankful. We're thankful," said. "We were in our living room, watching the Channel 7 news for the weather, and our friends from behind us were banging on the door, telling us that our tree came down."
Others within a block of Chicago Street in Valparaiso have been dealing with a myriad of damage, ranging from trees on homes and cars to power lines draped across yards.
"I heard just on the side of my house, just like, 'ba-boom!' and I heard the house shake," said Valparaiso resident Roseann Ulanowski.
Ulanowski said she's not sure if it was a lightning strike, a blown transformer or potentially even a tornado.
"I thought I probably should go for cover, because I had not seen or felt anything in my life," Ulanowski said.
Valparaiso crews started the clean-up at 3 a.m., and contractors expect to be working under the cover of darkness Tuesday night.
"This is one of the worst storms I've seen. I've been doing tree work my whole life," said Edmonds Tree Experts Owner Chris Edmonds.
Storm injures 2 in unincorporated Shorewood
In unincorporated Shorewood, the storm ripped the roof off of one home, where two people were injured. Neighbors who spoke with the victims' family said they are being kept in the hospital for observation.
Resident Tom Petrizzo and his family began cleaning up after weathering what they said was a tornado that tore though their neighborhood.
The home he just finished putting a new roof on last month was one of the hardest hit on Canterbury Lane.
"It just hit so fast everything was horizontal coming at me as I stood in the window and I just yelled to the family get down get down get in the crawl," Petrizzo said.
The NWS hasn't confirmed it was a tornado, but the storm packed strong winds that nearly leveled a home and sent the homeowners to the hospital.
Christina Spiros lives four houses down and lived through a Plainfield tornado.
"I have talked to their son today, and he said they are doing OK," Spiros said. "They actually just texted him a bunch of stuff they want for him to take to the hospital."
Officials said the storm left damage all over the southwest suburb.
ComEd was working in Oakwood Drive and Route 59 on securing a live wire on the road.
Public works crews from Troy Township began their efforts Monday night, returning early Tuesday morning to finish the clean-up.
"We'll be here probably, we'll be doing this all week all around the township but his is the hardest hit area," Troy Township Highway Commissioner Tom Ward said.
Still, the neighborhood shows a spirit of community despite what they may have lost.
"Trees down, we have a tree in our backyard, a trampoline in our back yard, but everyone is safe," neighborhood resident Susan Kniffen said.
As a result of the storms, Chicago's Metropolitan Water Reclamation District is telling residents to limit water use.
The agency issued an Overflow Action Day alert. That means water should be used for only "absolute necessities."
Hundreds of thousands impacted by power outages; ComEd expects most customers will have power by Friday night
ComEd says ongoing power outages are mainly due to strong winds that caused trees to fall on wires.
Widespread damage from Monday night's line of storms that tore through the Chicago area impacted every part of its service territory.
ComEd said 105,217 customers were without power as of 10:30 p.m. Tuesday. Company officials said they expect power to be restored for 99% of customers by Friday evening.
"In the immediate aftermath of the storm, some 430,000 ComEd customers experienced outages," said Gil Quinones with ComEd.
ComEd officials said half of those affected have their power back as of 4 p.m. Monday. They expect 80% of customers to have their power by Wednesday night.
Woodlawn resident Louis Reed, who lost his power Monday night, has been taking advantage of a breeze outside and a game of dominos to pass the time until his power is restored.
And waiting is all Abdeel Bedeeh can do. He works at the Twin Spot at the corner of 63rd and Vernon. It lost power Monday night while it was full of customers.
"It's been around maybe 18 hours. The lights are off, and we don't know what we're going to do about it," Bedeeh said.
The store is open, but he is sitting in the dark.
ComEd said more than 3,000 utility workers are involved in the efforts to restore power, many of those coming from across the country lend a hand.
"This is the third day in a row where we're responding to major storms," said Dave Perez with ComEd.
ComEd said since the last incident of this size in 2020, the company made investments in infrastructure, which helped to make sure the outage this time around wasn't worse than it could have been.
South suburban portion of I-55 could be shut down for 3 days
Downed trees and power lines have led crews to shut down Interstate 55 between U.S. 6 and River Road in Channahon. Police said that section could be closed for three days.
"Havoc. Havoc. It's just real bad, because if you don't leave out early enough, you're going to be late getting to work," said driver James Harris.
Illinois State Police said several vehicles were entangled in downed power lines. One person was transported to an area hospital with injuries, police said.
The view from Chopper 7 captured the magnitude of the damage there. The winds that swept through Channahon, apparently in a relatively narrow band Monday night, overturned several semis.
"And in some cases, the trailers that we saw in the aerial shots were loaded, so that's upwards of 50,000 pounds, and it picked them up like it was a toy," said Hoffman Transportation Executive Vice President Jordan Hoffman.
Along I-55, the building for logistics company Hoffman Transportation suffered serious damage. It brand-new roof, installed last Friday, was blown off.
The confirmed Channahon tornado also toppled two transmission towers. Numerous high-tension, high-power ComEd electricity lines were ripped down, now stretching across the roads, including I-55.
"We had 10 tornados, broken tree limbs, down power lines," said ComEd Vice President Neena Hemmady. "The impact is massive. The amount of work that it takes to get these back up and running is massive."
And an Exxonmobil Refinery is now without power, forced to flare some of its product as a precaution.
"And there's no harm to the public. We've been in contact with the EPA regarding all of this, and they have no issues with the flaring process," said Will County Emergency Management Agency Director Allison Anderson.
ComEd has brought in reinforcements, including some 1,400 employees from around the country and around 300 from Canada. They have restored many of the more than 400,000 customers without power, but this situation in Channahon will likely take at least another full day and night. That's due, in part, to the heavy current these lines carry.
In the meantime, the closure of I-55 has inconvenienced countless people, from drivers to those expecting commerce to be delivered to and from the Chicago area. Driver Derrick Scott, who deliver those goods, is unable to move his truck out of the parking lot Tuesday evening.
"I'm an owner/operator, so for every day my truck sits, I lose money. So right now, I'm panicking a little bit," Scott said.
The I-55 closure could have global implications. Just east is a critical trucking and logistics hub and one of the largest inland ports, and the trucks that transport products and raw materials are now delayed.
But wind and tornado damage are not the only issues for people trying to get from place to place after Monday night's severe weather.
Metra Spokesperson Meg Reille said due to flooding and no power, the University Park Metra station will be closed Wednesday. The pedestrian tunnel is flooded and the facility doesn't have any power.
They made due Tuesday with police escorting people across the street instead of using the tunnel.
City received nearly 7,000 calls for service in two days
Chicago's 3-1-1 service center received 6,939 calls related to the storms from Sunday to Monday.
These are the reported calls as of 11 a.m. according to Chicago's Office of Emergency Management & Communications:
- 2,544 for tree debris
- 3,421 for tree emergency
- 122 for water in basement
- 228 for water on street
- 293 for wire down
- 144 for street light pole damage complaints
- 187 for traffic signal out complaints
Clean-up underway across Chicago area
From the suburbs to the city, there was widespread damage left behind Tuesday morning.
In a suburban community near O'Hare Airport, people live with the intrusion of jet engines every minute of every day. But what happened Monday night was disconcerting, even for longtime residents.
Schiller Park resident Lindsey Borias has been hit by storms before, but nothing like this. The sound of jets was replaced by village sirens as the power went out.
There were reports of a possible tornado near the airport.
"A little nerve-racking, because we have two kids, because we have two dogs, and we haven't had power since," Borias said.
A tree dangled splintered behind her home with power lines also draped over her yard Tuesday.
ComEd said Borias is on an "escalated" list to get service, and she is worried about all the food she bought Monday night to ride out the storm spoiling.
"Extremely dangerous, and like, I am trying to find a hotel that will take my dogs, too, because I can't leave them in 82-degree house by themselves. Tt's nerve-wracking," Borias said.
Remaining inside with two teenagers is not an option for this working mom, with soaring temperatures and special noise abating windows that will not open.
"I am thankful that we are safe, but it is hot. It is miserable," Borias said.
Borias said the village was very good about picking up debris in the storm's aftermath, but more help is needed tonight 24 hours after the storm.
Meanwhile, the Village of Norridge made quick work of picking up downed limbs and branches Tuesday morning and removing a tree off of Milo Grcic's home.
"We saw branches started coming down and that's when I sent my wife, and my mother in law and the kids in the basement and then just as they went in the basement, I heard the thud," Grcic said.
Neighbors said at around 9:30 p.m., the storm came through sending people into their basements to take cover.
"There was times where I mean the winds shifted from left to right and then it was blowing at our house," resident John Bulat said. "We took cover. oh yeah. Of course absolutely."
Parts of Norridge are not far from O'Hare, either.
Video from Polk and Ashland shows a big uprooted tree on top of a car which was smashed a street light was bent like a straw and left splintered in the street.
The Chicago Fire Department said they have responded to several calls about porch collapses and downed trees Monday night. No injuries have been reported from those incidents, but CFD said trees are down on most of the block at 70th and Campbell.
At 820 North Pulaski in Chicago, a building collapsed. CFD said a tree fell on a car in Austin and one person was transported to a hospital with a serious head injury.
Frank Bragioli in Norridge can't believe the strength of the storm.
"We never had this around here and the airport," he said. "Usually it's blocked in but yeah it was pretty wild."
Outside of our area, extensive rain on Monday and Tuesday ran over the top of a dam and flooded downstream, which forced the evacuation of residents in Nashville, Illinois, said Alex Haglund, a spokesperson for the Washington County Sheriff's Office. Officials now say the situation is under control.
