Severe weather cut power to more than half a million people in the Chicago area and northwestern Indiana as perilous thunderstorms and tornadoes pummeled the region Tuesday, causing widespread damage and bringing lightning that injured people at an Ohio prison.
Tornado warning sirens howled as the skies darkened. All flights were temporarily stopped at Chicago’s two major airports, and officials warned of delays as the backlog was cleared. In Ohio, power outages swept the state capital region, and at least one death was reported.
Sixteen incarcerated people were hospitalized, including one who was transported by helicopter, after lightning struck at a prison complex southwest of Cleveland, according to the Ohio Department of Corrections. The victims were injured as they returned from an evening meal at Grafton Reintegration Center, department spokesperson JoEllen Smith said in an email Tuesday evening. Their conditions weren’t immediately known.
Two tornadoes touched down just south of Chicago, the National Weather Service said Tuesday night. Photos posted on social media from the Chicago area, and across the state line in Indiana, showed flooded roads, trees tangled in power lines and homes with gashes in their roofs.
“No power. It was very scary. We were down in the basement,” said Javid Jenkins of Homewood, a Chicago suburb. “We’re built for snow. We’re built for cold. We’re not built for this.”
Jenkins, 54, said he was driving around for gas to fire up a generator to preserve food in his refrigerator.
Forecasters said a wind gust of 99 mph (159 kph) was recorded in Gary, Indiana. Elsewhere there were numerous reports of gusts of 80 mph (128 kph) or more at personal weather stations.
Preliminary information indicated that the intense system that swept from Iowa into Indiana over several hours qualified as a derecho, the weather service’s Storm Prediction Center said Tuesday evening. Derechos are prolonged straight-line wind events that unleash heavy rainfall and travel far distances. The damage they cause is sometimes comparable to the destructive forces of tornadoes or hurricanes.
The weather service bluntly warned earlier in the day: “These are dangerous storms!”
More than 600,000 customers lost electricity in Illinois and Indiana, according to poweroutage.us. Lake and Porter counties in Indiana and Will County, south of Chicago, were especially hard hit. Farther east in Ohio, at least 250,000 customers were without power.
“Total devastation. No roof,” said Kerry Hourigan, standing outside her home of 25 years in Tinley Park, another Chicago suburb. “Stupid thing, but my focus was I just bought a new barbecue grill, and I have no idea where that is. It’s disappeared.”
Meteorologist Scott Baker said the Midwest was on the outer edge of a “ring of fire,” bringing waves of excessive moisture, instability and storms.
In Ohio, Gov. Mike DeWine said a resident of Roseville died during a health emergency when first responders, faced with flooded roads, couldn’t get there. He warned that flood dangers would persist.
“This is not something that will end tonight,” DeWine said of the severe weather.
Dayton, Ohio, set a daily rainfall record with 2.07 inches (5.25 cm), shattering a mark set in 1915, the weather service said. Forecasters said multiple rounds of rain would cause flood hazards in the Ohio Valley through early Friday.
Officials in Columbus, Ohio, sent local government workers home early ahead of another round of storms. The library in Westerville, Ohio, closed after rain poured into the atrium.
The fifth day of the 10-day Lake County, Indiana, Fair was canceled, disappointing fans who were hoping to see a professional wrestling event involving people under 5 feet (1.5 meters) tall.
Nearby in LaPorte County, Indiana, there was a “tremendous amount of tree damage,” Commissioner Joe Haney said.
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White reported from Detroit. Associated Press writers Jennifer Garske in Washington, Sudhin Thanawala in Atlanta, and Christopher Weber in Los Angeles contributed.