A line of severe thunderstorms swept across the Chicago area Tuesday morning, August 11, bringing hurricane-force wind gusts, tornado warnings, and widespread destruction.
The rapid-moving system, which struck shortly after 10 a.m., caused ground stops at O’Hare and Midway Airports and led downtown office workers and visitors at Navy Pier to seek shelter.
The National Weather Service recorded wind gusts of up to 100 mph in certain places, including a 96-mph gust in Shorewood and an astounding 99 mph in Gary, Indiana.
The NWS warned of “destructive storms” in its alerts, noting that straight-line winds posed an even greater threat than isolated tornadoes.
There were more than half a million customers who lost power in the Chicago area and the Northwest Indiana region. There were 290,000 outages reported by ComEd, and more than 270,000 customers were without power in the Northwest Indiana region. Interstate 65 was closed both ways from I-94 to the north of the region due to fallen power lines and several big rig accidents.
Various suburbs reported major damage. In Flossmoor, an unconfirmed tornado touched down around 11:00 a.m., downing trees and blocking streets. Power lines are reported downed in Orland Park, with flooded roadways and trees blocking multiple intersections.
Approximately 250 flights were cancelled at O’Hare, with delays averaging about an hour at the two main airports. The White Sox game will go on as planned, with no weather issues predicted.
This is in spite of the fact that a couple of days ago, there were three EF-1 tornadoes that hit the regions of LaSalle and Lee counties. People have been advised to stay away from fallen power lines because they are still electrified.
2026-08-11 23:43:00
