More than 59,000 ComEd customers are without power following overnight storms that dropped as much of five inches of rain and continue to delay area transit Thursday morning. A flash flood warning remains in place for much of the Chicago area.
At least two viaducts on the Far South Side have flooded and two manhole covers have burst, according to authorities.
As of 9:45 a.m. a viaduct on 95th Street between Cottage Grove and Stony Island Avenue is flooded. And in another Far South Side area, there is heavy flooding on Longwood Drive from 95th Street to 103rd in the city’s Beverly neighborhood.
City Water Dept. spokesman Tom LaPorte said as of 8 a.m. they¹ve received 16 calls of water in basements and 19 calls of water in the streets.
The flash flood warning covers Will and Kendall counties, as well as southern portions of Cook, DuPage and Kane counties until 11:30 a.m., according to the weather service. A flash flood warning means that flash flooding is either in progress, imminent or highly likely.
Slow-moving thunderstorms will continue across the area this morning, and runoff from excessive rainfall may cause local flooding, the weather service said.
Airlines at O¹Hare International Airport are reporting delays of about 45 minutes for flights in and out of the airport because of the weather, according to the city¹s Department of Aviation. Midway airport is reporting “a few” delays averaging 30 minutes.
Metra commuters are also being impacted by the rainy conditions. Heritage Corridor train No. 918, scheduled to arrive in Chicago at 8:10 a.m., is running 15 to 17 minutes late because of the weather, according to the Metra website. Train No. 2101 on the Milwaukee North line is 23 to 25 minutes late because of signal and weather conditions, and will terminate at Deerfield, where commuters will transfer to another train to continue on to Lake Forest.
State Police report that standing water on I-57 near Halsted on the South Side is snarling traffic, as is a weather-related crash on I-57 near Route 30, an Illinois State Police District Chicago trooper said.
The rollover crash, which is thought to be weather-related, happened about 6:10 a.m. near south suburban Matteson and injured an unknown number of people, the trooper said. Further details were not immediately known.
About 59,000 ComEd customers remain without power as of 6 a.m., spokesman Bennie Currie said. That includes 10,800 people in Chicago, 7,700 in the northern suburbs, 9,400 in the western suburbs and 30,000 people in the southern suburbs, he said.
More than 290 ComEd crews are out repairing downed power lines, and there is currently no estimate of how long repairs will take, he said.
Minor flooding is already occurring at the Kankakee River at Shelby, Ind., which at nearly 10 feet is one foot above flood stage, according to the weather service. A flood warning there affected Lake and Newton counties in northwest Indiana, is in effect until Saturday night. The minor flooding is forecast to impact some county and local roads.
Three to six foot tall waves and northeast winds of 15 to 25 mph could also create a moderate risk of rip currents Thursday morning through Friday morning along the Lake Michigan coastline, according to the weather service, which urged beach-goers to obey lifeguards and posted signs.
However, Thursday’s temperatures will bring some much-needed relief from this week’s near-record heat. The high will reach just 63 degrees and there will be a 40 percent chance of thunderstorms. The low will dip to 54 with a 69 percent chance of storms, the weather service said.
“You’ll probably head to work with it being in the 60s and by the time you leave on Thursday, we’ll reach the upper 50s, especially downtown and warmer inland,” National Weather Service meteorologist Mike Bardou said.
Those storms may be severe with damaging winds and large hail possible Thursday afternoon, just south of I-80. There’s also a chance of severe thunderstorms Friday afternoon and evening.
The weekend should be sunny, with a high of 74 degrees on Saturday and 70 degrees on Sunday.
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