The National Weather Service Chicago is reporting areawide damage from the Labor Day storms, including lightning strikes, flash flooding in and near O’Hare Airport, large trees down and at least one tornado touchdown.

According to the NWS Chicago’s preliminary recap of Monday, Sept. 3, there was a confirmed, one-minute tornado touchdown just north of Harlem and Perryville roads in Rock Cut State Park. Funnel clouds also were spotted in Ogle and McHenry counties.

A small boat with two fishermen was struck by lightning at around 1:37 p.m. Monday in Whalen Lake Forest Preserve in Will County. Lightning struck a condo building at around 2 p.m. in Brookfield, and a house was struck and damaged at around 2:20 p.m. in the southern part of the Portage Park neighborhood of Chicago.

Roads were flooded throughout the area.

• Route 41 in Lake County was closed due to flooding between Route 137 and Route 176, with two cars stuck in flood waters at 9:30 a.m. Monday.
• Retention ponds overflowed shortly before noon in Woodstock, covering streets with about 3 inches of water.
• Interstate 190 near O’Hare Airport was closed in both directions at around 2:12 p.m. Monday due to significant flooding where Mannheim Road crosses over the interstate and the Canadian National Railway bridge.
• The airport itself reported flooding of a portion of the interior of Terminal 5.
• Southbound lanes of the Kennedy Expressway were flooded at around 4:47 p.m. at the Jayne Byrne Interchange as well as the Interstate 90, 94, 290 interchages.
• The left of of I-57 was flooded with 6 inches of water at around 4:50 p.m. near mile marker 351.

A wall partially collapsed around 4 p.m. on a railway underpass along U.S. 45 in Lake County.

Large trees were downed, roads were blocked and power lines were down in several areas.

None of the major damage reports were in Kane County, according to the NWS Chicago preliminary report.

Flooding Stages in Montgomery, Algonquin

Fox River communities of Montgomery and Algonquin were expect to pass minor flood stage today.

Storm Continue This Week

Rainy weather is expected Wednesday, Thursday and continuing into Saturday night across northern Illinois and northwest Indiana.

A front moving over the area will stall, serving as the focus for continued rain.

Remnants of Tropical Cyclone Gordon may bring heavier amounts to some of the area later in the week.

Weather Service Fast Facts

• There were multiple rounds of thunderstorms across northern Illinois and northwest Indiana on Monday, Sept. 3 (Labor Day), with multiple strong to severe thunderstorms during the afternoon.
• The most impacting aspects of this event are shown to the right, including flooding, wind damage, and possibly a couple brief, weak tornadoes.
• A storm tracked from northwest Ogle County to near Rockford in Winnebago County, with low-level rotation and multiple low funnels.  While a preliminary brief tornado was reported in Rock Cut State Park, there was no damage found in the park.
• A strong downburst, as evidenced by radar and the tree damage, occurred in Wayne, IL (DuPage County).
• Surveying is being done today of a possible brief weak tornado on the west side of Chicago.
• Flooding occurred in parts of the northern and northwestern Chicago metro area, including road closures such as I-190 near O’Hare Airport.
• This was the wettest Labor Day on record in Chicago, with measured 24-hour rainfall of 1.79″ at O’Hare topping the Chicago record of 1.49″ in 1912.

Weekend Rain Totals

Rainfall totals for Monday were not reported as of 9 a.m. today (Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2018).

However, several rounds of thunderstorms producing heavy rainfall occurred from the evening of Aug. 31 through the early morning of Sept. 2.

The most significant rainfall amounts occurred the evening of Sept. 1 through the early morning of Sept. 2 over far northern Illinois.

There was a very isolated area of wind damage over parts of the far northwest side of Chicago during the Saturday morning thunderstorms.

Sunday Rain Totals

Marengo (McHenry)............................5.14
  Woodstock (McHenry)..........................4.08
  Roscoe 2SE (Winnebago).......................2.89
  Capron (Boone)...............................2.80
  McHenry (McHenry)............................2.30
  Mundelein (Lake).............................2.24
  Rockford (Winnebago).........................2.10
  Winnebago 1SE (Winnebago)....................1.56
  Wheeling (Cook)..............................1.47
  Genoa (De Kalb)..............................1.38
  Elgin (Kane).................................1.21
  Lake Zurich (Lake)...........................1.18
  Waukegan (Lake)..............................1.15
  Elgin (Kane).................................0.78
  Paw Paw (Lee)................................0.78
  Botanic Gardens (Cook).......................0.74
  Steward (Lee)................................0.52
  Westmont (Du Page)...........................0.46
  Shabbona (De Kalb)...........................0.43
  Aurora (Kane)................................0.37
  Batavia (Kane)...............................0.35
  West Chicago (Du Page).......................0.35
  Elburn (Kane)................................0.35