Severe weather battered the Chicago area and surrounding areas Tuesday night into Wednesday, prompting a flurry of tornado watches and warnings, according to the National Weather Service.
Parts of Michigan appear to be the hardest hit, including Grand Blanc, less than 10 miles southeast of Flint. The Genesee County Sheriff's Office announced on Facebook that the tornado struck the area around 1:20 a.m. A spokesperson for the Grand Blanc County Fire Department said Genesee County police, fire and EMS crews were responding to “many injuries. The website, which said it had received “reports,” posted reports of downed power lines and natural gas odors in the city.
As of 3 a.m., more than 18,000 Michigan customers were without power, according to PowerOutage.us, which aggregates data from power companies nationwide.
As severe weather continued Tuesday evening, O'Hare International Airport officials temporarily suspended all departing flights and suspended rail service, while urging people inside the airport to “exercise caution.”
Chicago's NBC News affiliate shared video of hundreds of passengers cramming into the airport for evacuation.
Early images of the storm's damage began to emerge Tuesday night as authorities worked to assess damage and confirm tornadoes in several communities on Chicago's west side. Additional tornado threats moved eastward into Indiana, Michigan and Kentucky overnight. Numerous tornado warnings were issued overnight for parts of Michigan and Illinois, all of which had been canceled by 2 a.m. Wednesday. Tornado watches were also in effect until 6 a.m. in Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio.
The National Weather Service reported at least five other tornado sightings, three of which occurred near the city of DeKalb, about 90 miles west of Chicago.
By around 10:30 p.m. local time, the tornado watch for northeastern Illinois was downgraded to a wind advisory as the tornado threat moved southeast over southern Illinois, Indiana, including Louisville, and Kentucky. . At approximately 10:45 p.m., the National Weather Service announced that the threat of severe weather in Chicago was over. Approximately 9.8 million people in these areas were under tornado watches late Tuesday night.
derrick bryson taylor and Yang Chuan Contributed to the report.
