After Catastrophic Floods in New York, US Hit by Tornadoes Disrupting Hundreds of Flights – News18

After heavy rains and catastrophic floods in New York, the United States was hit by tornado warnings in Chicago on Wednesday. A tornado touched down near Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, prompting passengers to take shelter and disrupting hundreds of flights.

“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,” the National Weather Service in Chicago said.

Videos showed hundreds of people taking shelter in an O’Hare Airport concourse. Around 173 flights departing the airport were cancelled and more than 500 were delayed. More than 10,000 customers lost power in the region, according to poweroutage.us.

The Chicago metropolitan area has seen tornadoes in the past and several of them have hit within the city limits, according to the weather service.

After hitting Chicago, the weather forecasters said that the storm was moving east toward southwest Michigan and issued a tornado watch for parts of Michigan, Indiana and Ohio on Thursday.

Much of the northeastern United States, including New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Vermont, was lashed by rain on Sunday and Monday, washing out bridges and leaving roads impassable.

Earlier on Tuesday, US President Joe Biden declared a state of emergency in the northeastern US state of Vermont as heavy rains triggered flooding. More than 100 people in Vermont had been rescued from cars and homes as of Tuesday, according to officials.

By mid-day Wednesday, all the rivers in Vermont had crested and water levels were receding, although at least one was 6 meters above normal, said Peter Banacos, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

The meteorologists said that more rain is expected in the US later this week which will have nowhere to go in the oversaturated ground. Thunderstorms, gusty winds and hail were forecast for Thursday and Friday in Vermont, but Banacos said they’ll blow through quickly enough that more flooding isn’t likely.

More than 600 people also had to be evacuated from their homes in the neighboring Canadian province of Quebec following torrential rains.

Scientists say that climate change intensifies the risk of heavy rain because a warmer atmosphere holds more water.