‘Severe warning’ as Tornado touches down near Chicago's O'Hare airport

livemint.com:

Following severe weather warnings in the city, a tornado touched down near Chicago's O'Hare International Airport on Wednesday, as reported by the National Weather Service. As reported by AP, no injuries were immediately reported. The National Weather Service in Chicago confirmed the presence of a tornado on the ground around 7 p.m.

“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," it said.

The National Weather Service had stated that the Chicago forecast area was not under any tornado warnings before 8 p.m. However, video footage from TV stations depicted numerous individuals seeking shelter in a concourse at O'Hare Airport. FlightAware, a flight tracking service, reported the cancellation of 166 flights and nearly 500 flights experiencing delays.

Later in the evening, the National Weather Service issued two tornado warnings for specific parts of the city. Tornado sirens were activated multiple times across Chicago, urging residents to take cover, with the sound echoing through the city's buildings. Lynn Becker, a longtime Chicago resident, posted video to Twitter with the sirens sounding out across the city’s iconic skyline.

“I’m in a 60 story apartment building so my options are somewhat limited," he said. “We have to, I assume, go into the core of the building." Becker said news of the storm was featured across local media. “There’s a certain panic when you’re watching a TV screen and everything is in red … but the hope is that the damage is minimal," he said.