A tornado apparently touched down outside Chicago’s O’Hare airport on Monday as storms spawned multiple reports of twisters blowing through Illinois, Iowa and Indiana.
The turbulent weather knocked down trees and power poles, cutting electricity to more than 460,000 customers and businesses. A woman in Indiana died after a tree fell on to a home, authorities said.
The 44-year-old woman died on Monday night in Cedar Lake, Indiana, the local coroner’s office said.
There were some tornado reports, but damaging winds in Iowa, Illinois and Indiana were the main concern, said Roger Edwards, the lead forecaster with the National Weather Service’s (NWS) storm prediction center. There were numerous wind gusts in the 75mph (120 km/h) to 90mph (145km/h) range and a report of a 101mph (162km/h) wind gust in Ogle county, Illinois, Edwards said.
The NWS confirmed a tornado hit Des Moines, Iowa, as storms rolled through Monday afternoon and into the night. Des Moines police were responding to calls about utility poles that had apparently snapped in two.
The storms then moved east into northern Illinois, including Chicago, which saw multiple tornado warnings, wind and drenching rain.
In Chicago, O’Hare airport travelers went on social media and described how winds rocked the planes in which they were sitting back and forth, as the New York Times reported.
O’Hare had reported 81 flight cancellations as of Tuesday morning. The city’s Midway airport reported eight cancellations.
Multiple tornadoes were reported along the line of storms that moved through the city, according to the NWS, which planned to survey a number of areas following the reports.
The NWS in Chicago had to take cover for a time and later reported extensive damage in the city. The agency reported wind speeds in the region of up to 75mph (120km/h).
A flash flood warning also was issued in the Chicago area into early Tuesday. No major flooding damage was reported through Tuesday morning.
Nearly 390,000 customers were left without power in northern Illinois alone, according to poweroutage.us.
“There are numerous reports of power lines down throughout the city as a result of this evening’s storm,” the police department in Joliet, Illinois, posted online on Monday night. “Many roadways are partially or completely blocked by trees or tree branches.” The city is about 35 miles (56km) south-west of Chicago.
The Associated Press contributed reporting
