Severe thunderstorms ripped across the Midwest on Wednesday, leaving hundreds of thousands in the dark and creating travel chaos at Chicago’s major airports with over 1,000 flight disruptions.
Weather officials issued tornado warnings throughout Illinois, Kansas, northern Missouri and southern Iowa on Wednesday, with severe thunderstorm watches covering portions of the Great Lakes region.
The storm system reached the Chicago metropolitan area Wednesday afternoon, toppling trees and causing structural damage to buildings throughout the region.
Both Chicago O’Hare International Airport and Chicago Midway International Airport issued temporary flight holds Wednesday evening as thunderstorms moved through the area. John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York implemented similar ground stops due to severe weather conditions.
Flight tracking service FlightAware reported that by Wednesday night, more than 1,000 departing and arriving Chicago flights had been either delayed or cancelled.
Powerful winds tore portions of roofing from an apartment complex in the Chicago region, displacing residents, NBC 5 Chicago reported. Additional damage included collapsed barns in Wisconsin, destroyed structures in rural northern Missouri, and numerous fallen trees and power lines throughout the Midwest, as documented in online photos and videos.
Illinois experienced the most significant power disruptions with over 264,000 customers losing electricity, primarily concentrated in Cook County, while Michigan saw nearly 140,000 outages, according to poweroutage.com. Additional blackouts affected Kansas, Wisconsin, Iowa, Indiana and Ohio.
Commonwealth Edison Company, the electric utility serving northern Illinois, reported that the storms had brought down electrical poles and transmission lines.
“We know this is challenging and will restore service as safely and quickly as conditions allow,” the company said in a post on X.
