Jun 5, 2008 11:52 am US/Central
Storms Bring Dangerous Lightning, Serious Damage
Streets Flood In South Suburbs, Power Outages Plague Northwest Indiana
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
Violent thunderclaps interrupted the still of night throughout the Chicago area, and the storms that accompanied them brought serious damage.
The heaviest storms had left and only scattered showers were left by the 5 a.m. hour, but the National Weather Service says thunderstorms may return anytime before 1 p.m.
CBS 2's Ed Curran reports that a tornado watch was placed into effect early Thursday morning for the northwest corner of Illinois, including Boone and Winnebago counties just west of the Chicago area.
The tornado watch also covered much of southern Wisconsin, including the Milwaukee and Madison areas, and Kenosha and Walworth counties just over the Illinois state line.
The watch expired in the mid-morning hours.
In the early morning hours, the storms brought lightning, hail and heavy rain. Streets flooded in the southwest suburbs, and lightning strikes in many areas caused fire and destruction.
Firefighters were dispatched to 15202 Oxford Dr. in Orland Park when lightning struck a brick chimney and knocked nearly all of it to the roof and the ground. Homeowner Stephen Wiskup said he scrambled around the house checking his electrical appliances.
"It was a big 'boom;' hardly any lightning, but a big 'boom,'" Wiskup said. "That's all I could say; it shook the whole house."
Wiskup said he was able to get power back to his house easily, but still sustained damage to his televisions and telephones.
At 3:20 a.m., lightning caused a fire to break out in the rear of a house at 4840 N. Kentucky Ave. on the city's Northwest Side. The fire was extinguished quickly and no one was injured.
No significant power outages were reported in the Chicago area, but in Northwest Indiana, the power company Nipsco reported 2,800 customers in its service area without power. The most significant outages were in Goshen, Ind., where 1,100 customers were without power, followed by Crown Point, where 700 lost power.
Other areas had it much worse, particularly downstate Illinois. A tornado warning was called for Moline and Woodford counties late Wednesday for a tornado spotted just west of Carlock, Ill.
In the southern Illinois town of Tilden, high winds and rain toppled trees and damaged homes, but no one was injured. Power crews in Randolph County, where Tilden is located, are working to restore power to numerous customers.
Back in Chicago, the day is expected mostly to be overcast, with periods of sunshine. The forecast high is a sweltering 90 degrees.
CBS 2's Joanie Lum and Ed Curran contributed to this report.
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