Jenny Shiner was crocheting from her Glendale Heights home when the power started to flicker. The 53-year-old art business owner didn’t know storms were in the forecast Monday, let alone hail and deafening winds.
“All of a sudden,” she said, “it started raining.”
Fast-moving rains, damaging gusts and power outages stretched across Chicagoland and northwest Indiana through the day Monday as yet another bout of summer storms swept the region. The storms were the area’s latest atmospheric mood swing in what’s been a roller coaster few months of weather locally, between record-breaking wildfire smoke, flooding and tornadoes.
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For Shiner, who grew up in the suburbs but spent some time living in New Orleans before moving back to the area two years ago, the weather was as intense as she’s seen.
“I’ve been in hurricanes and tornadoes down in (Louisiana),” she said, “and this was very similar.”
It was around 11:30 a.m. when the skies started to dim, Shiner recalled. Knowing the signs of a tornado, she started to search for signals of funneling clouds. Then came the hail — golf ball-sized pellets that pounded the ground.
“The hail was insane,” Shiner said.
Monday’s weather saw a slew of warnings and watches take effect throughout the city, collar counties and northwest Indiana. Storms grounded flights, suspended public transportation and sent those outside seeking immediate shelter. By Monday evening, nearly 320,000 customers were without power, according to ComEd.
Meanwhile, the city received more than 1,500 service requests to 311, according to Chicago’s Office of Emergency Management & Communications. Those calls included some 286 complaints of water on the street, 238 reports of water in basements and 773 alerts to tree emergencies. There were also dozens of requests concerning wires down, traffic signals and street light outages and light pole damages, per city data.
By early evening, daily rain totals ranged anywhere from 1.5 to 3 inches, according to Kevin Donofrio, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Chicago. Though the full picture of precipitation for the day wouldn’t be available until later this week, Donofrio said that with Monday’s storms, the Chicago area will likely be at least 2 inches above normal rainfall for the meteorological summer, which begins in June.
The weather service received at least three unconfirmed reports of tornadoes in Glen Ellyn, Orland Park and Lansing, Donofrio said. The reports followed several tornado warnings issued earlier in the day across Cook, DuPage and Will counties, as well as through Porter and Lake counties in northwest Indiana. Weather officials said they planned to survey damages and possible tornado paths once weather conditions cleared.
Last month, the state officially broke the record for most tornadoes in a year. Experts have told the Tribune this pace is not normal, with Illinois experiencing an average of 54 tornadoes annually between 1990 and 2020.
While official word on tornadoes remained uncertain by nightfall, winds and rain still wreaked havoc regionwide.
Reports of damage and downed trees circulated the south and southwest suburbs. In Ford Heights, the roof of an apartment building collapsed, local authorities confirmed. In Homewood, fallen trees crisscrossed neighborhoods.
“The damage down here in my whole block is incredible,” said Homewood Mayor Rich Hofeld in a phone call, the sounds of chainsaws cutting up fallen trees and branches buzzing in the background.
In Downers Grove, two contractors became trapped in a storm sewer amid the severe weather and needed rescue, the village said. Firefighters were able to rescue one contractor, but operations for the second were still underway as of Monday evening, according to media reports.
In Evanston, the storms left Loren Berlin’s car buried underneath a tree branch. Though the 48-year-old doesn’t think the limb will leave much damage, the incident marks the second time in recent weeks that her family’s car has felt the brunt of severe weather.
During a storm a month ago, a tree landed directly on their car, causing thousands of dollars of damage, Berlin said. It’s surprising — and frustrating — to find themselves in a similar situation just weeks later, she said. While she knows it’s hard to predict when and where trees will falter in torrential weather, Berlin says she had hoped there would have been a closer examination of the foliage after the last round of storms.
Berlin said Monday was also a reminder that “we’re living through the effects of climate change.”
“That’s very alarming,” she said. “(It) comes closer to home every day.”
For this week at least, the threat seemed to be limited to Monday. Though another round of storms loomed in the early evening, weather officials said some respite was in store in coming days, starting Tuesday. A cold front was expected to roll through Monday night, bringing cooler temperatures and dryer conditions through Thursday, Donofrio said. However, thunderstorms could return by the weekend, with rain and rising temperatures back in the forecast by Friday.
Louise Devin, 65, is all too familiar with how volatile the city’s weather can be. The Rogers Park resident has seen her building flood eight times this year alone, Monday included.
Devin, whose North Side home has two floors — a garden unit and one at sidewalk level — was downstairs when Monday’s storm set in. Everything went pitch black, she said.
“It was scary,” she said. Then, as is often the case when it starts to rain down in her part of the city, the floodwaters started to accumulate. It will take days, Devin anticipates, to rid her lower level of water, something she sees through herself bucket by bucket.
Knowing how prone her property is to flooding, Devin says she hasn’t taken a vacation in three years, for fear of leaving her home unattended at the mercy of storms.
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“I can’t risk it now,” she said. “I will lose everything.”
baiduhai’s Eileen Meslar, Lauryn Azu and Talia Soglin contributed reporting. Olivia Stevens and Evy Lewis of the Daily Southtown also contributed.