Chicagoan not used to weather like this messing our lives in August. In January with a blizzard or bitter cold, yes, but not with rains and thunderstorms.
Two squalls of violent thunderstorms blasted the Chicago area this afternoon. Reports of downed trees, street closures, power outages, and scattered flooding are dominating tonight's local news. Wind gusts of up to 70 mph, almost unheard of here, were reported.
Mrs. Marathon Pundit was stuck in traffic on Interstate 94 for an hour, both the north and southbound lanes were closed in Wilmette, along with the other driveres, she was diverted off the expressway.
I took top picture in Niles. The front windows of this jewelery store, along with the frames, gave way to the high winds. A few block south at Golf Mill Ford, where I bought a car a few years ago, a light pole collapsed, damaging the red Mustang on the left.
Yesterday I made a post about the Des Plaines River, Before the Flood? This river photo was taken around 2:00pm today--before the storms hit--near Golf and River Road in Des Plaines. Golf Road is closed in that area now, I believe it's due to "general flooding," I'm pretty sure the river is still within it banks or the MSM would've reported it.
The local electric utility, Commonwealth Edison, is reporting over 300,000 homes and businesses are without power, most in the northern suburbs of Chicago--where I live. I drove through Niles about an hour ago, much of the suburb is in darkness. A downed power line on the corner of Dempster and Milwaukee near Notre Dame High Schools probably the culprit. I was diverted from Dempster onto a sidestreet on my way home to Morton Grove this evening, there were several crews of ComEd workers on the the scene.
Flooding is the biggest concern right now. Rain is forecast tonight and tomorrow.
Thanks for the link: WindyPundit.
Technorati tags:
illinois 
Des Plaines 
flooding 
weather 
photography 
photos 
thunderstorms 
Chicago 
Niles
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