A major thunderstorm rolled through the Chicago area Thursday night, dumping almost three inches of rain in 75 minutes on parts of the northern suburbs and the Northwest Side of the city.
The storm knocked out power to at least 10,000 customers, flooded scores of basements and stranded many cars on flooded parts of the Edens Expressway and city streets.
Rescue workers had to pull some motorists from their vehicles in flooded viaducts on the Edens, which was partially shut down for the second time in a month due to flooding.
“It was the closest thing to a hurricane I’ve ever seen,” said John Ramsey of Skokie, a motorist who took refuge under a viaduct at Dempster Street and Milwaukee Avenue in Niles. “The water was coming down so hard I couldn’t see the cars in front of me.”
Cars traveling on Ashland Avenue between Devon and Peterson Avenues in Chicago created waves in the water that covered the street and flooded businesses on both sides of the street.
“People will come to work on Friday morning and find their businesses flooded,” said Kevin McKeogh, who was driving in the area.
Between 9 and 10:15 p.m. O’Hare International Airport was hit with 2.9 inches of water, and the northern portions of Cook and DuPage Counties were placed on a flash flood watch until 1 a.m. Friday, said Robin Smith, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
The viaduct at Pratt Avenue on the Edens had water at least 10 feet deep, forcing officials to divert southbound traffic at Touhy Avenue and northbound traffic at Elston Avenue, said Illinois State Police Sgt. Al Szram.
No injuries were reported, but at least three motorists had to abandon their vehicles in the area after their cars stalled in the high water, Szram said.
Firefighters from Skokie and Lincolnwood rescued some of those motorists, including Keith Hawkins, 38, who was heading from his home in Kenosha to drag races in Indianapolis in a large camper.
Hawkins’ traveling companion had abandoned the vehicle, but Hawkins had stayed with the camper, which was nearly submerged when he was pulled from the vehicle.
Resident Alan Ferdman, who could watch the rescue operation from his front window, said: “This is the second time in [four] weeks this has flooded. This is ridiculous.”
Szram said there was little way of preventing the flooding: “The roadway is 30 feet below ground level and we got 21/2 inches of rain in 45 minutes. No sewer can take that amount of volume in that time, so the water goes to the lowest point.”
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Chicago 911 dispatchers received a call from a panicked motorist whose vehicle had stalled in a flooded viaduct at Peterson Avenue and Pulaski Road.
Meanwhile residents in the Jefferson Park neighborhood were busy trying to move things out of basements that were quickly filling with water.
Besides heavy rain, the storms brought lightning, which was being blamed for the scattered power outages affecting at least 10,000 customers in Mt. Prospect, Des Plaines, Wilmette, Skokie, Evanston, Park Ridge, Oak Forest, Crestwood, Markham and a small portion of the city’s South Side, said Tabrina Davis, a Commonwealth Edison spokeswoman.