Flooding Closes Expressways, Causes Sink Hole

Updated 9:20 a.m.

Sites to check for delays, road or school closures, severe weather warning:

• State of Emergency Declared in Lake County
• O'Hare International Airport Delay Information
• Metra Service Advisories
• Flight Cancellations
• Lake County Passage Live Traffic
• Chicago Area School Closures
• National Weather Service Severe Weather Summary
• IDOT Road Closures 
• Flooding Causes Road Closures in Lake County
• MAP: Flooded Roads Throughout Chicago Area
• Rainfall Totals in Chicago Suburbs

Updated 8:53 a.m.

Close to 500 flights have been canceled at O'Hare Airport with the majority of cancellations on American, United and their regional partners, USA Today reported. 

Airlines are reporting delays averaging 30 minutes for flights in and out of O'Hare and delays averaging 45 minutes at Midway, Chicago Tribune reported.

Road closures in and around O'Hare International Airport:

• Mannheim Road southbound from I-190 to Lawrence Avenue
• Irving Park Road westbound at Mannheim Road
• Bessie Coleman Drive where it passes underneath I-190 is closed. Traffic trying to get to O’Hare Terminal 5 must use the terminal core roadway and exit Bessie Coleman Dr. on their way outbound from the terminals, CBS Chicago reported.

Earlier

Heavy rains overnight caused flooding this morning on the Edens, Eisenhower and Kennedy expressways in the Chicago area, reported the Chicago Tribune. 

Local roads are not much better. Grand Avenue in Gurnee is closed, according to WGN News.

Route 41 in between Westleigh in Lake Forest to Route 137 is closed due to flooding, according to the Lake Forest-Lake Bluff police.

Route 137 east of Route 83 is closed, according to the Lake County Passage.

There is widespread flooding all over Lake County, said Kent McKenzie of the Lake County Emergency Management Agency.

"Hundreds of roads including Grand Avenue and Route 41 are flooded," McKenzie reported. He said this could be significantly worse than the 2007 floods with "high, fast rising water along the Des Plaines river."

There are problems on side roads and problems on major roads leaving drivers with no good options this morning. Click here to visit the Lake County Passage website for local road closures.

One person was hospitalized after a sink hole at 96th and Houston on the South Side swallowed three cars and WGN News said it has doubled in size in less than 30 minutes.

The Des Plaines River could crest Friday at three and a half feet over flood level, according to the Chicago Tribune. Gurnee schools are closed today including Spaulding School, Viking School and District 56.

Weatherman Tom Skilling said "A serious flood threat continues as waves of downpour-generating thunderstorms sweep across this area's rain-saturated terrain at regular intervals through Thursday evening. The potential for severe thunderstorms and tornadoes, remains elevated into Thursday evening."

Stay with Patch for updates throughout the day.

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