CHICAGO — Flash flooding made for a challenging morning commute and led to the cancelation of more than 100 flights Wednesday morning.
About 2 to 3 inches of rain fell quickly over northeastern Illinois counties in the morning, according to the National Weather Service. The heaviest rain was on the North Side from O'Hare Airport to Lincoln Park, according to the weather service.
A flash flood warning remains in effect until 4:30 p.m. The forecast calls for a mostly cloudy afternoon and evening with a chance of scattered thunderstorms.
This morning, the city's aviation department said more than 170 flights had been canceled at O'Hare Airport and about 15 flights at Midway Airport. The city cautioned travelers to expect delays of an hour or more at O'Hare.
The Edens was closed in both directions at Pratt Avenue about 6:55 a.m. due to flooding, transportation agencies said, though the the lanes reopened by about 10:30 a.m.
All of Metra's Union Pacific Northwest trains were stopped due to weather-related communication problems as of about 7:15 a.m., Metra said. Shortly after, operations from Palatine to Chicago resumed while several trains remained stopped and would be operating late, Metra said.
A full list of affected trains is available on the rail agency's website.
The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District said it would monitor the situation in the Deep Tunnel system. The 109-mile system holds 2.7 billion gallons of water, and some sections of the tunnel had already reached 92 percent capacity, the agency said.
About 2,200 ComEd customers in Chicago and Maywood were left without power as of about 7 a.m., though some of those were left over from Monday night's storms, ComEd spokesman David O'Dowd said.
