Severe weather is expected to impact the Chicago area on Wednesday, with forecasters warning that conditions could support large tornadoes.
The National Weather Service has issued a Tornado Watch for Grundy, LaSalle, and Livingston counties through 3 p.m.
The Storm Prediction Center has placed areas well south of Chicago — including Kankakee County in Illinois and Newton and Jasper counties in northwest Indiana — under a Level 4 severe weather risk for Wednesday.
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Chicago’s South Side and the southern suburbs are under a Level 3 risk for severe weather, while the North Side and northern suburbs are under a Level 2 risk.
A line of showers and thunderstorms is expected to move through between 8 a.m. and 1 p.m. ABC7 Accuweather Meteorologist Tracy Butler said the first round is not expected to bring the highest severe threat, but it could lead to flash flooding. She added that some locations may see up to 2 inches of rain by noon.
A Flood Watch will be in effect for the entire Chicago area from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday.
Butler said the highest risk of severe weather will come in the mid-t0late afternoon and evening, from 2-9 p.m. Butler said the risk includes high winds up to 75-miles-per-hour as well as a risk for large tornadoes south of I-80.
Storms come as tornado cleanup continues
The threat of more bad weather couldn’t come at a worse time.
People are still struggling to clean up and recover from last week’s tornadoes.
They’re now worried what will come next
It’s expected to be another challenging day for people in Merrillville, Indiana as they clean up after weathering an EF-2 tornado with winds up to 135 miles-per-hour.
The storm caused extensive damage to hundreds of homes and local structures.
Fortunately, no serious injuries have been reported.
NIPSCO is still working to restore service to those who lost power. Most of those impacted are in Merrillville.
Joe and Marlene Trevino survived the storm, but lost their home to the tornado and say more bad weather will make it even harder to recover.
“I came out of our garage, and all the debris are all over, and I can’t believe our house is gone just like that, you know? I’m just under three minutes– gone,” Marlene said.
“Things were tough and tight as it was, and then now we got this,” Joe said.
Local officials are obviously on alert as well.
There’s a tornado recovery website at merrillville.in.gov/tornado, is available for people in Merrillville with helpful resources, especially as this next round of storms heads our way.
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