Reports of Tornadoes as Chicago Area Is Hit by Severe Storms

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A parade of severe weather was moving east Wednesday, hours after parts of the Upper Midwest were hit by strong storms, damaging winds and numerous reports of tornadoes, leaving thousands of people without power.

  • Between Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning, tornado warnings were issued across the Midwest as the line of storms moved eastward.

  • Storm intensity is likely to decrease throughout Wednesday.

An early picture of the storms’ impact began to emerge as officials worked to assess damage and confirm tornadoes in several communities west of Chicago on Tuesday night.

As the severe weather threat moved east Wednesday morning, more than 3 million people in Ohio and Kentucky were under a tornado watch. The Weather Service office in Wilmington, Ohio, issued a brief tornado warning for several counties in west-central Ohio, warning that debris could fly in high winds and that mobile homes could be damaged or destroyed. Tornado watches were also issued for Indiana until 6 a.m.

Debris from the storms caused numerous road closures across the Midwest and forced Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio, to close one of its gates, a spokesperson said.

Overnight, parts of Michigan appeared to be among the hardest hit, including Grand Blanc, less than 10 miles southeast of Flint. Genesee County Sheriff’s Office said on facebook that a tornado had hit the area around 1:20 am. A spokesperson for the Grand Blanc Township Fire Department said it was receiving “many reports of damage” and the Genesee County Police, Fire and EMS website. showed reports of downed power lines and the smell of natural gas in the city.

As of 8 a.m., nearly 15,000 customers in Michigan and nearly 30,000 in Ohio were without power, according to PowerOutage.us, which aggregates data from utility companies across the country.

On Tuesday night, officials at Chicago O’Hare International Airport briefly suspended all outbound flights and suspended its rail service, while asking people at the airport to “exercise caution.” The NBC News affiliate in Chicago shared video of hundreds of passengers filling the airport in search of refuge.

The National Weather Service confirmed that there were reports of at least one tornado that touched down in Henry County in western Illinois. The Weather Service reported at least five other tornado sightings, including three near the city of DeKalb, about 60 miles west of Chicago.

The ongoing storms will continue to move eastward on Wednesday, but will likely lose intensity. As colder air moves east, it will create a line of showers and thunderstorms stretching from the south to the northeast. There is a chance that storms from Tennessee to New York could see some strong wind gusts isolated from some of the more intense storms.

Behind the storm line, temperatures will plummet and a chance for moderate to heavy snow will develop over the Great Lakes to the northeast.

Yan Zhuang contributed reports.



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