Tornado warnings in Chicago-land

[Pebbles]

Wow what a summer for storms here in Chicagoland.

There was a report of a tornado in Bolingbrook and the sirens went off here. And numerous other warnings given.

This is the 2nd storm to give me nearly a heart attack this summer. It's the 2nd day of school and my daughter was to be getting off the bus 2 blocks away right as the storm hit. Drove to the stop to pick her up as there were warnings up all over. Sent a bunch of kids home when i saw them at our outdoor ice cream parlor round the corner. Hoping they all got back ok. No bus when the tornado sirens go off. Freaked out Mom here.

Race home and call the school (mind you the sirens are still going off) .. turns out her bus was was running behind and pulling out of the parking lot just as they sounded . It turn around and some teachers made them race back into the school. My other daughter's school also put their kids in the hallway.

Least the schools were on the ball with this and this Mom got over her heart attack fairly quick

Feel better now knowing they looked out good for the kids.

[CrazyC83]

Looks like it was a derecho that went through. A warehouse was heavily damaged trapping about 40 people inside.

Last check had almost 190,000 without power in the Chicagoland area.

[Pebbles]

I had heard something like that ... only confirmed report I've found is this

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHICAGO/ROMEOVILLE IL
545 PM CDT THU AUG 23 2007

..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..

0305 PM TSTM WND DMG WEST CHICAGO 41.89N 88.22W
08/23/2007 DUPAGE IL LAW ENFORCEMENT

*** 7 INJ *** BUILDING COLLAPSE ON FENTON AVENUE

There's tons of storm reports though.. listed here if anyone is interested.
http://www.weather.gov/view/prodsByStat ... ype=public

P.S. was just horrible timing as this storm hit right when kiddies were getting out of school. It was sunny right up to 2 minutes before the storm hit. (Thus why there were a bunch of kids and a couple families at the ice cream parlor). It got black and hit hard and fast... so most didn't know it was coming.

[angelwing]

Just seen this:

http://cbs2chicago.com/topstories/local ... 55541.html

[Pebbles]

Round 2 incoming...http://radar.weather.gov/rad ... 11&loop=no

[Pebbles]

Round two set off the tornado sirens again... this afternoons was a tornado warning.. tonights was because of the high winds with the 2 line of storms. Amazed we still have power and I believe the only reason we don't have trees down is because the microburst a couple weeks ago took out so many already.

TONS of reports coming in from all over including a Tornado warning in Kankakee county.

One death now reported

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LINCOLN IL
724 PM CDT THU AUG 23 2007

..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..

0120 PM TSTM WND DMG VICTORIA 41.03N 90.10W
08/23/2007 KNOX IL EMERGENCY MNGR

*** 1 FATAL *** PART OF A TREE WAS BLOWN DOWN AND FELL ON
A MAN WALKING UP THE SHORE OF A SMALL LAKE NEAR THE TOWN
OF VICTORIA. REPORTED BY KNOX COUNTY ESDA. WIDESPREAD
WIND DAMAGE OCCURRED ACROSS ALL OF KNOX COUNTY...WITH THE
MOST EXTENSIVE DAMAGE IN GALESBURG...WATAGA...AND
VICTORIA. AT LEAST 8000 PEOPLE WERE WITHOUT POWER AT THIS
TIME IN THE COUNTY.

[simplykristi]

Chicago has had some pretty nasty weather this summer.

Kristi

[CrazyC83]

Hopefully the ultimate disaster will never happen...an F5 tornado going right into the downtown area...

[Pebbles]

Hopefully the ultimate disaster will never happen...an F5 tornado going right into the downtown area...

That truely would be horrible but many of the buildings there are actually quite well built to withstand high winds. I fear more a tornado going through our high density/low to middle income neighborhoods. Take for instance the neighborhood I moved from last fall. Many of these buildings are older with some over 100 years old now. Each plot of land is only 25 feet in width. That's how it was built back then.. so high density is packed like sardines. And there are many 2 flats in the mix... meaning multiple families.

Have heard quite a few stories from the 'old timers' about the F4 that hit Oak Lawn and still remember the Plainfield/Joliet F5 having a girlfriend that was in it!

Here's a link (and a small quote) from an extensive write up on significant tornados to have hit Chicagoland. http://www.crh.noaa.gov/lot/?n=SigChiTorn
Some facts about Chicago's Significant Tornadoes

There were 86 significant tornadoes in the 8 county Chicago metro area between 1855 and 2006
The deadliest tornado occurred on April 21, 1967 during an outbreak of 5 significant tornadoes. A violent F4 tornado formed in Palos Hills in Cook County and traveled through Oak Lawn and the south side of Chicago. 33 people died and 500 people were injured by this 200 yard wide tornado that traveled 16 miles and caused over $50 million in damage.
The most recent significant tornado occurred on May 18, 1997. This F2 had a path between Lindenhurst and Gurnee in Lake County, IL, and caused no deaths or injuries.
The only F5 tornado to ever strike the Chicago area was on August 28 1990. This tornado formed near Oswego and passed through Plainfield, Crest Hill, and Joliet. The tornado killed 29, injured 350, and caused $165 million in damage along a 16 mile path.

[shorty121]

Thanks for all this info, I'm going to look at the Chicago news link after I finish posting this. I work for ACL Laboratories here in WI and boy I got a surprise when I got to work last night...
Our IL main lab is in Rosemont and their power went out. They had three back up generators but two of them failed rather quickly, which meant everything they handle specimen wise from dozens of clinics was ALL brought to us. Was a horrible night at work....over 600 more specs to data enter, prepare and run at our lab.....
Hope everyone is okay down there!
-Misty