Hundreds of Flights Disrupted by Tornado Near Chicago Airport

Twister touched down near O'Hare
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jul 13, 2023 12:27 AM CDT
Tornado Near Chicago Airport Disrupts Hundreds of Flights
Storm clouds pass over downtown Chicago and the Bronzeville neighborhood of the city heading East out over Lake Michigan as the National Weather Service continued to issue multiple tornado warnings in the greater metropolitan area Wednesday, July 12, 2023.   (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

A tornado touched down Wednesday evening near Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, prompting passengers to take shelter and disrupting hundreds of flights, the AP reports. There were no immediate reports of injuries. A confirmed tornado was on the ground around 7pm, according to the National Weather Service in Chicago. "This tornado has been touching the ground intermittently so far and is moving east. There are additional circulations along the line south of O'Hare. Seek shelter if in the warned area," it said.

By 8pm the weather service said the Chicago forecast area was "currently tornado warning free." It said the storm was moving east toward Michigan, where tornado warnings were issued. Video from TV stations showed hundreds of people taking shelter in an O'Hare concourse. Some 169 flights were canceled and nearly 500 were delayed, according to the flight tracking service FlightAware. The National Weather Service issued two tornado warnings for portions of the city Wednesday evening. Tornado sirens sounded at least twice across Chicago, warning people to take cover and ringing through the city's buildings.

Lynn Becker, a longtime Chicago resident, posted video to Twitter with the sirens sounding out across the city's iconic skyline. "I'm in a 60 story apartment building so my options are somewhat limited," he said. "We have to, I assume, go into the core of the building." Local news outlets said warehouses were reported damaged near O'Hare. The weather service quoted an unidentified emergency manager as saying a roof was blown off in the community of Huntley in McHenry County and a trained weather spotter saying trees were uprooted and roofs blown off in Cook County, where Chicago is located.

(More Chicago stories.)

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