Derecho turns deadly, tornado reported near Chicago's O'Hare airport
A line of powerful thunderstorms hammered the Midwest Monday afternoon into Monday night, leading to at least one fatality as winds howled over 100 mph.
Deadly storms and a derecho rolled through Illinois and Indiana on July 15. The wind caused trees and power lines to fall on homes, cars and streets.
Intense thunderstorms packing wind gusts over 100 mph blasted across the Midwest Monday afternoon into Monday night, snapping trees and damaging buildings during an extreme weather event known as a derecho.
At least one person was killed amid the storms when a tree fell on a home in Cedar Lake, Indiana, located 35 miles southeast of Chicago, according to The Associated Press.
A downed tree lies across a driveway after strong winds hit Des Moines, Iowa, Monday, July 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Scott McFetridge)
Northern Illinois was the hardest-hit area, accounting for nearly 75% of the 340,000 power outages across the Midwest Tuesday morning in the wake of the storms. Camp Grove, Illinois, clocked a 105-mph wind gust as the storms blitzed the region, wind speeds commonly found in the core of a Category 2 hurricane.
Tornado-warned storm pounds Chicago
As the powerful storms approached Chicago, tornado warnings were issued for the areas in and around the city, encompassing an area that over 2.5 million people call home. At least 11 tornadoes have been confirmed across the region with damage surveys still ongoing.
One of the tornado-warned storms passed over Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, forcing flights to be temporarily grounded at the major travel hub.
O'Hare International Airport posted a message on X at 9:21 p.m. CDT that "severe weather is imminent" and that people should "follow the instructions of all airport personnel." However, some passengers responded who had already boarded a plane, saying they were stuck on the tarmac as the storms rolled in.
"Been sitting in the plane at the gate through all of it including when everyone's phone went off saying to take cover. Why were we not deboarded?" one person said in response to the post from the airport.
The Chicago Department of Aviation issued a statement on Tuesday saying minor damage was found at some facilities at O'Hare, but that no injuries were reported at the airport.
According to FlightAware, 780 flights at the airport were delayed and another 132 were canceled Tuesday.
How Monday's storms compared to AccuWeather's prediction
AccuWeather meteorologists had called for a "moderate risk" of severe weather in the Northeast and a "high risk" of severe weather in the Midwest Monday afternoon into Monday night.
The wind, hail and tornado reports across the regions aligned with the predictions, with the worst damage reports occurring in and around the "high risk" area AccuWeather had outlined in the Midwest.
What is a derecho?
A derecho is a long-lived complex of thunderstorms that produces widespread wind gusts over 58 mph over an area at least 400 miles long. The Midwest is one of the areas of the United States where derechos occur most frequently, although they can occur in other parts of the country as well.
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