A tornado touched down in a state park near Loves Park, northeast of Rockford, as thunderstorms flooded roads and downed trees throughout the Chicago area Monday afternoon.
Thunderstorms dumped torrents of rain on the North and Northwest sides, as a flood warning was declared by the National Weather Service for northern Cook County and eastern DuPage County until 7:15 p.m. A flood advisory was in effect until 7:15 p.m. for small streams in southeast Cook County and northwest Lake County, Indiana. Flood warnings also were in effect for parts of the Fox and Des Plaines rivers.
Access to O’Hare International Airport, which protesters earlier had been unsuccessful at blocking when they failed to shut down the Kennedy Expressway, was blocked for a time mid-afternoon on westbound Interstate 190, as flooding closed the roadway, according to the Illinois Department of Transportation.
A tornado was spotted in Rock Cut State Park near Loves Park just before 4 p.m. Two weather spotters saw the tornado touch down and reported some possible tree damage in the park, according to the weather services.
Numerous other streets and roadways were flooded, especially in Lake County and on the Lake-Cook border, while storms felled large trees, blocking roads in Garfield Park on the West Side, according to a weather service employee.
An earlier weather service tornado warning was in effect until 2:15 p.m. for west-central Lake County and east-central McHenry counties in Illinois. Other parts of the west suburbs, including western Cook and eastern DuPage counties, were under a severe thunderstorm watch until the same time.
Radar showed tornado-like rotation in the storm, according to the weather service.
by Chicago Tribune staff (2018, September 3)
